Brian Galea is still in the running for a place in the finals at the Medi-terranean Games after the opening day of the trap competition in Turkey yesterday.
Galea was among 25 shooters who stepped into the Erdemli Atis Poligonu in Mersin for the qualifying round which saw the participants aiming at the opening 75 targets of the competition.
Galea, who placed fifth in the GSSE trap competition in Dude-lange, Luxembourg last month, compiled scores of 23, 24 and a perfect 25 to finish with an overall tally of 72 from 75.
He was classified 10th overall, just two points short of Italian duo Giovanni Pellielo and Massimo Fabbrizi, Stephane Clamens, of France, Alp Kizilsu, of Turkey and Spain’s Jesus Serrano Lara who are sharing fifth spot on 74 points.
Today, Galea will be involved in the final two rounds of the competition where he will be looking to force his way into the top six positions and a place in the finals.
Eleonor Bezzina was another shooter in action yesterday when she lined up in the women’s 10m air pistol competition.
Bezzina, Malta’s flag bearer in the Games opening ceremony last week, travelled to Turkey in high spirits after striking gold in the Luxembourg GSSE last month.
However, she was given a timely reminder of the much-higher levels of competition at the Medi-terranean Games as despite com-piling a better qualifying score than at the Luxembourg GSSE she still failed to challenge for a top-eight position and a place in the final.
In fact, Bezzina registered scores of 93, 91, 92 and 88 to compile a total score of 364, three points better than her qualifying effort in Luxembourg. She eventually finish-ed 16th from 18 shooters.
Serbia’s Zorana Arunovic topped the qualifying phase with 385 points.
In the final, it was France’s Cleine Gobervile who struck gold on 202.5 ahead of Arunovic (200.6) while Slovenia’s Petra Dobravec took bronze on 175.5.
Swimmer Andrew Chetcuti was back in the pool when he took part in the 100 metres freestyle heats.
Chetcuti, a bronze medallist in the distance in the GSSE, touched home seventh in 52.41 seconds... 0.7 slower than his national best he set in Luxembourg last month.
The heat was won by Italy’s Luca Dotto, in 49.64 seconds.
Today, Chetcuti will complete his commitments in Turkey when he takes part in the 50m fly heats.
Elsewhere, weightlifter Rodmar Pulis set two new national records in the U-77 category but injury ended his participation in yester-day’s event.
Pulis was off to a flier when he managed lifts of 101kgs and 105kg in the snatch.
However, the young lifter suffered an injury during the warm-up for the clean and jerk and was forced to withdraw.