Months ago the council of the Malta Shooting Sports Federation started the preparations to organise The Commonwealth Shooting Federation (European Division) Malta 2006 events in Trap and Skeet. To organise an event of this scale is not an easy task when one considers how hard it is to get sponsorships in this country.

But thanks to our motivated council we managed to not only organise it but also to leave a very good impression on all the visiting shooters from Gibraltar, Northern Ireland and Wales and also on our Prime Minister, Dr Lawrence Gonzi who officially inaugurated this tournament and was impressed with the local talent.

The results achieved by our skeet and trap shooters made us once again proud of our national squads. Our skeet team managed to win the team event while young skeet shooter Darren Vella took second place in the individual event, followed by juniors Clive Farrugia, Jason Sciberras and Max Fenech.

The same result followed on Sunday when our trap team won the team event and Frans Pace finished second overall, followed by our trap juniors Justin Attard, Nicky Carabott and George Cassar. These results proved the MSSF right when we used to ask the authorities to adjust the ages for local sports shooting. Thank God, we are now on the same level playing field as our European counterparts, apart from with regard to funding.

These tournaments are so vital for our sports tourism, therefore we expect entities such as the MTA to recognise the effort being made by the Malta Shooting Sports Federation and to encourage us for the bright future ahead.

Edwin Vella

MSSF PRO