Eleonor Bezzina handed Team Malta its third gold medal of the Games when storming to victory in the 10m air pistol competition at the indoor shooting ranges in Budva,
The success achieved by Malta’s top female target shooter capped a positive day for Malta who added five more medals to end with 19 medals – three gold, eight silver and eight bronze to remain seventh in the overall standings.
For Bezzina it was her second triumph in GSSE competition after he had also struck gold in the 2013 edition held in Luxembourg.
Bezzina’s triumph yesterday takes major significance when one considers that she was up against top Montenegrin shooters Jelena Pantovic and Nikola Saranovic who were expected to dominate the competition in front of their home fans.
Nine shooters were at the start of the competition with the top making it to the final.
Here, Bezzina kept her composure to sail into the final just behind Pantovic.
However, Bezzina produced when it mattered most, in the final stages of the competition.
In fact, it looked as though that Pantovic was set to take gold when she took the lead with only two shots to go.
However, Bezzina reserved the best for the last when hitting a score of 20.4 against Pantovic’s 17.9 to soar to the top of the table with a total of 231.8… 1.1 clear of the home target shooter.
Saranovic was forced to settle for bronze with 211.3.
“I’m delighted to have regained the gold medal at the GSSE,” Bezzina told the Times of Malta.
“It has been exactly six years to this date that I had triumphed in Luxembourg 2013 so you can understand my delight at making this medal mine again.
“In the final I was always in the lead but towards the end the Montenegrin shooters were closing in on my lead and Pantovic even managed to take a one-point lead.
“But I was determined not to let the gold medal slip away from my hands and I redoubled my efforts and hit two excellent closing shots to beat Pantovic for gold.
“To beat the Montenegrins in their own backyard was sweet, given the huge support they had but the Maltese were always behind them and I thank them for their warmth during the competition.”