A Maltese contingent of eight target shooters from the Malta Allied Airgunners Club represented Malta for the first time ever in the World Field Target Federation (WFTF) world championships in Pretoria, South Africa, recently.

The Maltese team was competing against 124 target shooters from 12 different countries and took part in three different categories, Veterans, Open Class and Springer Class.

The Malta team ranked seven in the team classification overall. In the springer class David Giardina and Kris Debattista finished in the seventh and ninth positions, both awarded medals for their performance in the top 10 class

position.

Field Target Shooting is organised by the Malta Allied Airgunners Club in Malta at the Victoria Shooters Range tal-Handaq Qormi.

This WFTF Worlds experience will definitely change the way FT was shot in Malta up till now. A major step forward is required to better prepare shooters for the next WFTF world championships of 2010 taking place in Hungary.

The South African Freestate Benchrest Shooting Association also hosted a Tri Nation Bench rest event for the occasion.

Since the Malta Allied Airgunners Club is represented in the World Rim fire and Air rifle Benchrest Federation (WRABF), the team also took this challenge.

In this event South Africa, New Zealand and Malta shot Air Rifle Bench Rest and Rim Fire Bench rest.

This type of sport is also practised by the Malta Allied Airgunners Club in Malta at the Victoria Shooters Range at tal-Handaq, Qormi, however the handicap for the Maltese team was Rim Fire since due to lack of local shooting facilities the Rim fire discipline cannot be practised yet.

Despite this the Maltese shooters did extremely well with three medals going to three Maltese and seven going to the South Africans in the ranking of the top 10 shooters of this event. In the Rim Fire category, Dr Mario Spiteri reached sixth place and Nazzareno Scorfna followed closely in seventh.