Frans Pace kept hold of his nerves in the barrage yesterday to claim the All Malta Trap trophy for a ninth time in his career after staving off the challenge of Jason J. Aquilina in a tight finale.

Pace and Aquilina had both tied on 115 clays in Class A before the final got underway.

Pace had scores of 22, 22 and 23 on Saturday and a double 24 yesterday. In the final, he managed to hit a target more than Aquilina to finish the competition on a score of 136 from a possible 150.

Aquilina had to settle for second place on 135 overall after a 'modest' 20 in the barrage.

There was one single straight over the two days of competition. This was achieved by Lino Galea.

The All Malta Trap was the last selection shoot to determine the list of Maltese shooters for the European Commonwealth Championships at the Isle of Man on the last week of September.

So far, the Malta Shooting Sport Federation's list of those making the trip includes Jason J. Aquilina, Nicky Carabott, George Cassar, Frank Scorfna, Eugenio Borg, Clive Farrugia and Darren Vella. They will be joined by air-rifle shooters William Vella and Lawrence Darmanin.