The Malta Shooting Sport Federation (MSSF) will be hosting an array of talented shooters for the second International Double Trap Grand Prix at its ranges in Bidnija on July 24.
Carmel Cascun, MSSF secretary general, yesterday told a news conference that the one-day shoot has attracted the participation of 18 Double Trap shooters, hailing from different parts of the globe, including Kuwait, the UAE, Germany, Sweden, Finland and Italy, besides Malta.
Among the competitors in this year’s Grand Prix will be Hakan Dahlby, winner of the ISSF World Cup final in 2005 and 2008, Francesco D’Aniello, a silver medallist in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Saif Alshamshy, of the United Arab Emirates, and Simo Koylinen, of Finland.
Malta’s hopes will again rest on William Chetcuti. This week, he placed 13th in a World Cup shoot in Maribor, Slovenia. Young Nathan Lee Xuereb is also on the Grand Prix entry list.
“We are bracing ourselves for a very exciting competition,” Cascun told reporters in Bidnija.
“After the success of last year’s inaugural Double Trap Grand Prix, we doubled up our efforts to make sure that this time we’ll host a more interesting com-petition.
“In fact, we have succeeded in bringing over some of the finest shooters in the world in this particular category.
“We are expecting a bumper crowd to our ranges for the competition and, hopefully, our shooters will be among the main protagonists for the top positions.”
Saviour Portelli, president of the MSSF, said the Double Trap Grand Prix is included in a series of events on a tight international calendar.
“We are just one year away from the Olympics and the interna-tional federation is organising various competitions where quotas for the Games are at stake,” Portelli said.
“We have already bagged one quota thanks to William Chetcuti.
“Later this year, some of our other shooters will participate in the European and World Championships, both to be staged in Belgrade, Serbia.”
Skeet shoot
Clive Farrugia yesterday completed his commitments in the ISSF World Cup in Slovenia.
On Thursday, Farrugia had an excellent start to the Skeet shoot after a firing a straight and a 24.
Yesterday, however, Farrugia could not match those high standards despite solid efforts of 21, 23 and 24. He finished in 56th place from 134 shooters with 117 clays.