The Malta Air-Rifle and Pistol Club is currently holding a series of shoots, under the auspices of the Malta Shooting Sport Federation, ahead of the European Common-wealth Championships at the Isle of Man in September.

At the Bidnija Ranges last weekend, William Vella, Cyprus GSSE air-rifle silver medallist, was in a class of his own when hitting a remarkable score of 575 points to win the selection shoot by a 25-point margin on second-placed Lawrence Darmanin.

Third place on the day went to young competitor Charlo Chircop who finished with a score of 536.

Newcomer Michael Xuereb also obtained a creditable personal best result of 501.

In air-pistol, Ray Cacciattolo emerged winner with a score of 536. Newcomer Vincent Borg, 506, was second and third place went to Martin Grech, 486.

The Open air-rifle event was won by Eleanor Bezzina, 516. The upcoming Gareth Cutajar could only manage 386 this time around.

International referee Gino Galea officiated the competitions, according to ISSF regulations. The next selection shoot will be held on Saturday.

Meanwhile, during the weekend, clay shooter Clive Farrugia maintained his current fine form by winning a two-day skeet competition, also at Bidnija.

On Saturday, he had rounds of 22, 24 and 23. Yesterday, he smashed another 22 before a perfect straight of 25 for 116-125. During the barrage, Farrugia kept his lead with another 21 for a total of 137.

Second place was determined after a shoot-off between Darren Vella and Silvio Attard following equal scores of 134. Vella won the decider on a 6-6 score.

Next weekend, a shooting competition will be held at the Birżebbuġa Club to help raise funds for Id-Dar tal-Providenza. The event is open to all local shooters.

Double Trap shooters William Chetcuti and Nathan Lee Xuereb left Malta for Croatia to participate in the ISSF European Championships.

Chetcuti, who won a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games in Pescara, will figure in the Open category while Xuereb will be shooting in the junior class, both on Thursday.

They are being assisted by coach Jimmy Bugeja.

MSSF president Saviour Portelli will also be in Croatia to attend an ISSF assembly meeting.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.