Skeet shooter Marlon Attard enjoyed an encouraging debut in international competition when he placed seventh overall in the ISSF Junior World Cup in Sydney, Australia.
Attard managed scores of 22, 21, 24, followed by a perfect straight of 25 before ending his commitments with 23.
The young Gozitan shooter was unlucky to make it to the final after missing out on a place by just one clay.
Chinese shooter Dou Xuyang took the gold medal after compiling 58 from 60 in the finals, a world junior record in skeet.
Italy’s Matteo Chiti took silver on 52 while Niccolo Sodi, of Italy, completed the podium with 42.
Attard will now travel across Australia to join his Maltese shooting team-mates at the Commonwealth Games which will be held in Gold Coast next month.