Misfiring Bezzina sixth in air pistol shoot

Defending GSSE air pistol champion Eleonor Bezzina failed to challenge for a place on the podium and could only manage a sixth place in the competition in Reykjavik, yesterday.

Bezzina, gold medal winner in Luxembourg 2013, had looked poised to figure among the major contenders when she advanced to the final after placing second in the qualifying round with 363 points.

At that juncture, she only trailed Luxembourg’s Sylvie Schmit who had 365 points.

However, Bezzina lost her stride in the final as poor scores of 6.6 and 8.8 in her fourth and sixth rounds saw her drifting away from the top three positions.

She was the third shooter to be eliminated from the final with a modest score of 109 points.

Schmit took gold with 191.8 points ahead of Iceland’s Jorun Hardardotti, 188.5, and Carine Canestrelli, of Monaco, 168.7.

“I’m devastated,” a tearful Bezzina told Times of Malta.

“I came here with high hopes of another medal for my country but I simply failed to deliver.

“It’s difficult to understand the reason behind my poor result. I was very calm before the final but I couldn’t perform when it mattered most and that is hard to accept.”