Double trap shooter William Chetcuti produced a creditable performance in a World Cup shoot yesterday as he finished fifth overall in Lonato, Italy.
Chetcuti headed into yesterday’s competition determined to make up for the disappointment of missing out on a place on the podium at the Malta International GP the previous weekend.
The 27-year-old Olympic medal prospect couldn’t have hoped for a better start as he opened with a 50-straight before going on to hit 46 in the next two rounds.
He finished the qualifying round level on 142 points with four other shooters, namely UAE’s Saif Alshamsy, Britain’s Richard Faulds, Vitaly Fokeev, of Russia, and India’s Ronjan Sodhi.
A shoot-off was required to determine the three shooters to join leading trio Kuwait’s Fehaid Aldeehani (145), Russia’s Vsily Mosin (145) and US shooter Joshua Richmond (144) in the final.
Fokeev and Alshamsy hit the first four clays in the shoot-off to secure their place in the final while Chetcuti and Sodhi managed three. Chetcuti eventually clinched the final spot after hitting four to Sodhi’s three. Faulds fell by the wayside after hitting only one clay in the shoot-off.
In the final, Chetcuti failed to compile a big score as he finished with 45 to place fifth overall on 187.
The gold medal went to Richmond who fired an impressive 49 for an overall score of 193, just two ahead of Fokeev.
A shoot-off was needed to determine the winner of the bronze medal after Mosin and Aldeehani were tied on 190. Mosin prevailed after seven clays were shot to claim the final place on the podium.
Nathan Lee Xuereb, who caught the headlines last week after his astonishing win at the Malta International GP, failed to challenge for the top positions.
The 15-year-old recorded scores of 43, 45 and 46 to finish 33rd overall on 134 points.
The next international assignment for Chetcuti and Xuereb are the European Championships, to be held in Larnaca, Cyprus later this month.
Final result
1. J. Richmond (US) 193 (144+49); 2. V. Fokeev (Russia) 191 (142+49); 3. V. Mosin (Russia) 190 SO+7 (145+45); 4. F. Aldeehani (Kuwait) 190 (145+45); 5. W. Chetcuti (Malta) 187 (142+45); 6. S. Alshamsy (UAE) 186 (142+44).