Tuzun Oguzhan, of Turkey, was the winner yesterday of the ISSF World Cup Trap shoot which took place in Conception, Chile.
Oguzhan secured a quota place for the London Olympics after finishing first with a score of 145 (123+22) in a close competition that required a four-way shoot-off to determine the final standings.
Russian Pavel Gurkin was the runner-up after winning a decider for second place with Spain’s Jesus Serrano, Francesco Amici, of San Marino, and renowned Australian Michael Diamond.
All four had tied on a score of 143 at the end of the final.
Gurkin eventually won the silver medal after his ninth round in the shoot-off. Serrano was third, ahead of Amici and Diamond. Italy’s Mas-simo Fabrizzi was sixth with 142 clays.
There were four Maltese shooters among an entry list of 82 in Chile.
George Cassar managed a total of 111/125 (21, 22, 23, 23, 22) and finished 58th overall.
Nicky Carabott had scores of 23, 22, 22, 20, 23 – 110, Stephen Vella 21, 24, 23, 21, 20 – 109, and Jason John Aquilina 23, 18, 22, 18, 22 – 103.
Meanwhile, two target shooters from the Malta Shooting Sport Federation Air Weapons Club have just competed in the Euro Championships in Brescia, Italy.
In the 10-metre Air Rifle event, William Vella hit 563 points and in 10-metre Air Pistol, Eleonor Bezzina scored 561 points.