Vella hits 105 in Italy competition for juniors

Darren Vella recently represented the Malta Shooting Sport Federation in the fifth International Grand Prix for juniors in Sabbia D'Oro, Italy.

This year the competition, organised by the Friuli Venezia Tiro a Volo, saw the participation of 20 national federations with a total of 220 shooters.

Among the represented countries were Russia, Germany, Great Britain, Turkey, India, Sweden, Luxembourg, Finland, Italy, Belgium and Holland.

The competition was inaugurated by Italian Shooting Federation president Luciano Rossi and Beijing skeet gold medallist Chiara Cainero.

Vella hit 105 from 125 clays after the first three rounds. Stefan Millson, of Sweden, won the event after hitting 120 followed by a straight of 25 in the barrage for an overall tally of 145. The women's title went to Therese Lunqvist, also of Sweden.

The double trap competition was won by Russia's Maksim Lazarev who then went on to help his country clinch the team competition title.

Geofrey Galbally, of Ireland, won the men's trap while Malanie Couzy, of Sweden, topped the women's section.

In a statement, the MSSF said an encouraging number of teams in Sabbia D'Oro have shown interest in travelling to Malta in future. Most of them intend to hold training camps here.