William Vella underlines supremacy in air-rifle

There is no stopping William Vella in 10m air-rifle shooting. In last weekend's competition at the Bidnija Airgun Ranges, Vella underlined his status as Malta's no.1 air-rifle shooter after hitting an MQS score of 570+96.6 for a leading tally of 666.6.

Lawrence Darmanin caught the eye with a fine performance in the final, scoring 548+100.3 (total 648.3), but he finished 18 points behind Vella.

Michael Xuereb was third with 589.4 (497+92.4) and Joe Smith fourth 582.9 (493+89.9) followed by his son William on 560.8 (477+83.8).

Eleanor Bezzina suffered a mishap on her way to the range but she still delivered the goods in the women's 10m air-pistol event. She targeted a 342 and an excellent 94.8 in the final for a winning total of 436.8. Josette Calleja was second with a score of (323+78.1) 401.1.

In the men's air-pistol event, Ray Cacciattolo produced the winning score of the day with a 542. He was followed by newcomer Patrick Azzopardi, who shot an excellent 514 in the qualification round. Martin Grech was third on 478 points.