Brian Galea targeted an outstanding 122 points from a possible 125 at last weekend’s ISSF World Cup trap shoot in Azerbaijan, but his remarkable effort and score were still not enough to earn him a place in a high-quality semi-final line-up at the Gabala ranges.

Galea, assisted by Frans Bugeja, was representing the country in a field of 120 shooters, all vying for the prestigious honour and a place in next year’s Rio Games.

He started with two straights of 25 before missing a single target and two other clays respectively in his next two rounds. Galea finished off with another full score for an overall 122.

So close was the ISSF trap competition that a shoot-off between 12 marksmen (all on 123 points) was required to determine the last two berths ahead of the finals which meant an Olympic quota.

The gold medal went to Russian Alexey Alipov (124 – 15/15 – 15/15) with Croatia’s Giovanni Cernogoraz the runner-up (123+13, 14+4 – 14/15) and Erminio Frasca, of Italy, taking the bronze (123 – 14+3 – 13/15) from Turk Erdinc Kebapci (124 – 14+2 – 12/15).

The other two shooters reaching the trap final were Jean Pierre Brol Cardenas (Guatemala) and Herve Boivin (France).

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