The Malta Shooting Federation was host to a number of elite shooters these past few days. They were here for a tournament marking the inauguration of new apparatus at the Bidnija ranges.

Another important aim of the federation was to have its athletes competing with high-level shooters in view of the forthcoming GSSE.

In the end, all goals were reached, despite the bad weather, with an all-round success and medals for Maltese shooters in all disciplines.

Such a tournament, however, can never be organised without the financial backing and support of the Malta Olympic Committee and the Sports Secretariat. The sponsors were Cisk, Fenici Insurance, Maltacom and the Hunters Association.

Among the foreign competitors was Giovanni Pellielo - one of the most successful Italian Trap shooters of all time and currently ranked no.2 in the world.

Also here were the Finland teams in full force. This included Tommi Andelin, ranked no.12 in the world.

Luxembourg's Armand Dusmond, the most experienced shooter around, was also present.

Saturday and Sunday were gloomy and rainy but the show had to go on and the Trap shooters braved it all.

The competition was on 125 and a 25-clay final. The undaunted Frans Pace shot a fantastic straight and finished the first day on top.

Meanwhile, slowly but surely, Horace Micallef was exhibiting careful and tactful shooting and stayed close on the tail of the leaders.

On Sunday, Pellielo decided to leave nothing to chance and shot two 24s to reach the final on 115, equalling Pace and Andelin.

But, Pace then dropped the bombshell in the shape of a perfect straight that stunned his more quoted opponents.

The spirited Micallef equalled the tallies of Finns Andelin and Nummela. No shoot-off was going to deprive Micallef from a well-earned medal and he made light work of it in the second clay.

The Double Trap was strongly contested by the Finns although their aspirations were interrupted by William Chetcuti and Italian Stefano Ales.

Kansala and Olkkonen reached the final leading the group closely followed by Ales and Chetcuti.

Chetcuti now had to do everything right for a place on the podium. Together with Olkkonen he shot the highest score in the barrage, and forced a shoot-off with Ales for the second-highest step of the podium. This he won with the skill of a true professional.

Skeet bronze

Paul Vella ensured Malta landed another medal in the last discipline to be shot - Skeet. He had a shaky start, placing sixth with a formidable Finnish team all ahead led by ace marker Kemppainen.

On the second 50 clays, Vella blasted a straight, applying some pressure on the Finns to narrow the gap. Vella then completed his comeback, finishing on a remarkable 117 and a third place in the final.

Silvio Attard also shot a respectable 112 score and together with Vella, the Malta team placed second.