On a day with clear blue skies and brilliant sunshine, Malta’s Frans Pace just missed out on the silver medal yesterday in the Trap competition as he was involved in a very exciting shoot-off with Luxembourg’s veteran Armand Dousemont.
Francesco Amici of San Marino emerged the clear winner when a light breeze played havoc with the shooting in the barrage. In fact all, including Amici, missed some shots. Except for the San Marino shooter, who missed two, the others were well off the mark. Frans Pace and Dousemont maintained their joint second place as they hit 19 targets each, while Phidias Savvides of Cyprus hit two more. Tomassoni of San Marino got 21 hits to finish fourth after a shoot-off with Savvides.
In the shoot-off with Dousemont, the score was 5-5 when the Luxembourg shooter missed his sixth attempt. Pace missed as well and the match was re-opened. It went on to the 13th shot where Dousemont was successful and Pace missed therefore having to be content with the bronze.
The final result showed Francesco Amici first on 145 hits. Dousemont and Pace were on 140, Tomassoni and Savvides on 137 and Yiannis Ailotis on 134.
At the end of the event, there was some disappointment among the shooting clan and some of the MOC officials present, as to how the silver medal was grabbed from our hold. Most said Pace was unlucky to have met his worst form at the most crucial moment, that is, in the final.
Pace, however, was still happy with the bronze medal and said: “It was an emotional shoot-off, but the whole competition and the scores registered showed that the level was quite high. If I had to repeat the same scores I registered here, then I would be in with a chance for the World Cup as well. After having passed through a dismal and bleak period, I managed to rise to the occasion here. Apart from being happy with the bronze, I am also very satisfied and glad to have come back into the local scene with a bang. The scores justify my assertions. Yet I made some mistakes here, but looking back, I must say it was a very encouraging performance,” he said.