Malta’s double trap shooter William Chetcuti just missed out on a place in the medal matches after placing fifth in an ISSF World Cup shoot held in Lima, Peru, on Friday.

Chetcuti, a gold medallist in last June’s Mediterranean Games in Mersin, Turkey, was in good form in the qualifying rounds of the competition. He compiled scores of 28, 27, 27, 26 and 28 to finish with an overall tally of 136 clays from 150 that put him fourth overall from an entry field of 44 shooters.

Derek Haldeman, of the US, topped the qualifying round with 141... four clear of fellow compatriot Walton Eller and China’s Binyuan Hu.

In the semi-finals, Chetcuti compiled a solid score of 26 from 30 clays that left him tied in fourth place with Hu, thus a shoot-off was needed to decide who would join Eller, Russia’s Vasily Mosin and China’s Hao Wang in the medal matches.

Chetcuti failed to score after the opening pair while Hu hit them both to book his place in the medal matches.

In the gold medal match Eller beat Mosin 26-25 to finish on top while Hu placed third after defeating fellow compatriot Wang in the bronze medal play-off.

In the junior competition, Nathan Lee Xuereb, who has just been crowned European champion, failed to challenge for a medal after placing seventh from an entry list of 14 shooters.

Xuereb registered scores of 26, 23, 26, 26 and 23 for a total score of 124 from 150 clays.

American Ian Rupert took gold with an overall score of 133, just one better than Italy’s Jacopo Trevisan and three better than Kirill Fokeev, of Russia.