Nazzareno Attard could not have wished for a more fitting birthday present yesterday after a silver medal in the trap final at the Olympic Shooting Range, Nicosia.
At 53 the oldest member in Team Malta, Attard triumphed in a nervy shoot-off against Monaco's Xavier Boucourt to secure second place. San Marino's Alfredo Tomassoni won gold with an overall score of 137.
It was an exciting climax to a barrage that saw Tomassoni leading the standings on 120, one ahead of Boucourt. Attard was third on 115, just ahead of San Marino's Francesco Amici and Phidias Savvides, both 113. Cyprus shooter Leontios Leontiou took the last final spot with 110 clays.
Frans Pace, the other Maltese shooter in trap, failed to make the barrage when he hit scores of 20 and 21 in the final two qualifying rounds to finish eighth on 106.
Tomassoni and Boucourt had a nightmare performance in the final, scoring 17 and 16 respectively. While for Tomassoni it had little effect on his gold medal victory, the same cannot be said of Boucourt as Attard fired 20 to join him in second place on 135.
A shoot-off for silver was required.
Here, both contenders remained locked until the seventh clay when Boucourt missed and Attard duly capitalised to secure second place.
"I guess I couldn't have expected a better birthday gift than this," a delighted Attard said.
"I'm not used to this kind of pressure, really. I rarely competed abroad before. But this medal is incredible and I still couldn't believe it at the end of the shoot-off."
Attard's silver medal wrapped up another successful showing by the Malta Shooting Sport Federation team at the Cyprus GSSE following William Chetcuti's gold and the two bronze medals of Clive Farrugia and William Vella.
Federation president Saviour Portelli said they do not intend to stop there and plans are already in the pipeline for them to send shooters abroad for training camps.
"This has been a wonderful Games for us," he said.
"We left our mark in almost all disciplines bar women's trap but luck was not on our side in that particular event.
"Among the positive aspects of these Games was the performance of our young shooters who showed they are ready for the big stage. Although we have limited funds, I can confirm that the federation is in negotiations to have Clive Farrugia travelling abroad to practise."
Portelli also revealed that Kathryn Cassar will compete for Malta in the World Championships in Slovenia next August.
Also in the team will be trap shooter Jeff Tonna and double trap's Chetcuti.