William Chetcuti of Malta claimed the men’s Double Trap gold medal at the ISSF World Cup in Baku, today.
The 31-year old shooter finished his competition in style, beating Italy’s Marco Innocenti (37) in a shoot-off for Gold by 2 to 1 hits at the end of a thrilling gold medal match. Only the tiebreaker could separate them, as they finished the qualifications (139 hits), the semi-final (29 hits) and the gold medal match (28 hits) with the same scores.
Chetcuti had a two-target lead right to the 26th target of the medal match, but then he missed two clays out of his last two doubles.
In the following shoot-off for the brightest medal, Innocenti missed a target out of his very first double, while Chetcuti hit them both, climbing atop of the podium.
“On my second-last double, I was expecting a scheme, but I was wrong, I got two targets which I did not expect, I was surprised and I missed one. On my last double, the pressure kicked-in, I really wanted to hit them both, and I missed again. This is the sport,” said the Maltese athlete.
“The following shoot-off for Gold has been really quick. I told myself ‘this is your chance’, and I made it.”
“This is my second world cup gold medal in career, - he continued, - every final, every medal, every win is different, is a surprise. I always try my best, but when it’s down to the finals, there are always six shooters who are all capable to win.”
“Now I am heading to Italy for the European Championship, and then to the Games,” added Chetcuti, who has been granted a Tripartite Commission Invitation place for Rio 2016.
“It will be my fourth Olympics, following Athens, Beijing and London. I’ve placed 9th, 8th, and 9th again in past Games… I hope this time I will make it to the final, and then I will have my chance.”
The 2009 ISSF World Cup title winner Mo Junjie of the People’s Republic of China (28) won the Bronze medal match, beating the 3-time Junior European Champion Artem Nekrasov (23) by 28 to 26 hits.
They had both finished the semi-final with 28 hits, and passed through a three-way shoot-off (+8 hits) leaving Finland’s Sami Ritsila (+7 hits) in fifth place. The second Italian finalist, Alessandro Chianese, finished in sixth place with 27 hits, recording his fourth final out of four ISSF World Cup stages, this year.
At the end of Day-4 of the ISSF World Cup in Baku, the People’s Republic of China leads the intermediate medals standings with 4 medals (1 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze), followed by the Republic of Korea with 1 Gold and 4 Bronze medals.
The competition will continue tomorrow, with the men’s 50m Rifle Prone and 25m Rapid Fire Pistol finals scheduled at 11.00 Am and 2.00 Pm (GMT+4).
Medal standings after 9 out of 15 events conducted
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CHN |
1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | KOR |
1 | 4 | 5 | |
| 3 | BRA |
1 | 1 | ||
| 3 | BUL |
1 | 1 | ||
| 3 | CZE |
1 | 1 | ||
| 3 | FIN |
1 | 1 | ||
| 3 | MLT |
1 | 1 | ||
| 3 | SMR |
1 | 1 | ||
| 3 | UKR |
1 | 1 | ||
| 10 | GRE |
2 | 2 | ||
| 11 | ITA |
1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 12 | IND |
1 | 1 | ||
| 12 | IRI |
1 | 1 | ||
| 12 | LIB |
1 | 1 | ||
| 12 | SVK |
1 | 1 | ||
| 16 | ISR |
1 | 1 | ||
| 16 | MEX |
1 | 1 | ||
| 16 | POL |
1 | 1 | ||
| 9 | 9 | 9 | 27 |