Carmel Briffa wins the Azzopardi Trap Trophy

The Malta International Open Grand Prix 2017 was officially opened on Sunday morning by the Parliamentary Secretary for Youth and Sports, Dr Clifton Grima, in the presence of MSSF President Saviour Portelli at the shooting ranges in Bidnija.

In his inagurational speech, Dr Grima welcomed the 140 participants from eight nations Malta, United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, Brazil, France, Georgia and Italy.

This was the first official engagement for Dr Grima where he mentioned his secretariat’s commitment regarding the National Shooting Complex project, hopefully to be ready in time for the ISSF World Cup Malta 2018.

This year’s Grand Prix includes Skeet, Double Trap and Trap events that are taking place this week.

The Skeet event started yesterday with the first 75 clays and another 50 clays today. The final stages will be held in the afternoon.

Tomorrow morning, the Double Trap event will commence over 150 clays. The final stages are scheduled to be staged in the afternoon.

On Saturday morning the Trap event starts with 75 clays trap and another 50 clays on Sunday morning.

The Trap final stages will be on Sunday afternoon, with the presentation ceremony to follow.

This event is mainly sponsored by The Malta Tourism Authortity, APS, RedOctober, Shooting Supplies, Sirup Ltd and SportMalta.

Carmel Briffa won the Azzopardi Trap Trophy at the Southern Shooting Club.

This event was organised on two qualification rounds, for Class B and Class C shooters, where the six highest ranked shooters advanced to the final and shot in another five knockout stages from a single shot.

The finals results

1st Carmel Briffa 18/25 + 4/5 + 4/5 + 4/5 + 6/10, total score 36/50

2nd Vince Cassar 16/25 + 4/5 + 3/5 + 3/5 + 8/10, total score 34/50

3rd Demetrio Zangaloro 15/25 + 4/5 + 3/5 + 4/5, total score 26/40

4th Joe Zammit 15/25 + 3/5 + 4/5, total score 22/35

5th Jean Deguara 14/25 + 3/5, total score 17/30

6th George Grech 11/25, total score 11/25

The top three shooters in their respective classes concluded qualifications with the following scores;

Class B

1st Matthew Busuttil 44/50 2nd George Grech 38/50 (countback rule)

3rd Vince Cassar 38/50

Class C

1st Demetrio Zangaloro 36/50 2nd Charles Demanuele 34/50 3rd Joe Zammit 33/50

The MSSF Trap programme will continue on Saturday and Sunday at the Bidnija Shooting ranges with the Malta International Open Grand Prix 2017, where local shooters will be competing alongside athletes from as far away as Brazil, Finland, France, Georgia, Great Britain, Italy and Sweden.