Chetcuti misses out on final after shoot-off

William Chetcuti hit the only straight of the day at the European Championships Double Trap competition in Osijek, Croatia, yesterday.

However, that achievement alone was not enough for the Maltese shooter to earn himself a place in the barrage as he had to settle for eighth place after losing a shoot-off with another three competitors who had finished tied in sixth place.

After three rounds, Chetcuti had scores of 44-50-46 for an accumulated 140 points, the same as Vitaly Fokeev (Russia), Daniele Di Spigno (Italy) and Steven Scott (England).

The shoot-off was won by Fokeev after 15 clays. Scott missed the opening shot and Chetcuti dropped out of contention after six clays in the decider.

The competition was won by Italian Francesco D'Aniello. He had rounds of 49-47-49 (145) before targetting another 47 in the final for an overall score of 192.

Sweden's Hakan Dahlby was second, 190(+14), and Roland Gerebics, of Hungary, third, 190.

Germany's Andreas Loew, who entered the barrage with the best three-round score of 146, had a poor final and slid to fourth place.

In all, 22 shooters took part in the competition which saw D'Aniello back in business after finishing third in last month's Mediterranean Games in Pescara behind gold medallist Di Spigno and second-placed Chetcuti.

Also in action yesterday was young Nathan Lee Xuereb in the European Junior Championship Double Trap shoot. He finished 12th after an overall score of 102 (35-33-34).

The competition for juniors was won by Russia's Artem Nekrasov on 191 points.