The Malta Air-Rifle & Pistol Shooting Club organised the 11th Airgun Shooting Competition at the MSSF Indoor Shooting range in Bidnija on Saturday. In the club's fifteen year history, this was one of the most hotly contested 'mixed' competitions in both air-rifle and air-pistol.

In the air-Rifle event, newcomer Alison Vella was in joint first place with Michael Xuereb, both having scored 529 points in the qualification round. Romeo Zuber was next in line with 526 points. During the interesting final of 10 shots that followed, all the competitors were changing placings with each shot until the last shot. Alison having obtained a remarkable 97.0 points emerged as the sole winner with a total of 626.0 points. Romeo Zuber managed to grab 2nd place with his final score of 92.8 points for a total of 618.8 points whilst Michael Xuereb finished third with a final score of 618.2 points (529 + 89.2 points).

The Air-Pistol competition was no less exciting where Ray Cacciattolo had a hard time to beat strong opposition from Stephen Vassallo for the top two places. Only one point separated both shooters after the qualification round after having obtained 538 and 537 points respectively. During the final, both shooters shot consistently well but Vassallo's score of 93.3 points was not enough to overtake Cacciattolo's 93.9 points with the latter winning first place with just a 1.6 point margin. Third place went to Martin Grech on 567.9 points, followed by Alfred Cini with a score of 555.4 points and Josette Calleja Galea with 548.4 points.

The next 'Selection' Competition will be held on Saturday the 10 March.