Gianluca Chetcuti lagging behind after first three rounds of Trap qualifying at Paris Olympics

Malta trap shooter Gianluca Chetcuti has a tough fight on his hands to reach the trap final at the Paris Olympics after a low-key start to his qualifying campaign at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre on Tuesday.

Chetcuti was aware that he needed a near-perfect performance to stay in contention for a top-six placing at the end of the qualifying phase of the competition.

Thirty shooters lined up for the competition with participants involved in three rounds of 25 clays each on Monday and the final two rounds of 25 each scheduled for Tuesday morning.

The top six shooters after the qualifying round proceed to the final.

Gianluca Chetcuti started brightly hitting 24 from 25 in the opening round to place second overall.

However, he failed to keep the momentum as he could only hit 22 in the second round and then managed 23 in the third and final round of the day.

That left him 69 clays from 75 and end in a lowly 28th position.

Two shooters are currently sharing top spot after three opening three rounds, namely Rickard Levin-Andersson, of Sweden, and Great Britain’s James Willett who ended the day on 74 points.

They are one clear of Giovanni Cernogoraz, of Croatia, Driss Haffari, of Morocco, Eduardo Jose Lorenzo, of Domenican Republic, Giovanni Pellielo, of Italy Haicheng Yu, and Ying Qi, of China, Nathan Hales, of Great Britain, and Oguzan Tuzun, of Turkey.

Chetcuti is the second athlete to have been in action in Paris.

Read also: https://sport.timesofmalta.com/2024/07/27/watch-katryna-esposito-loses-to-world-champion-despite-fighting-display-at-paris-olympics/

On Saturday, judoka Katryna Esposito was eliminated in the Last 32 of the -48kg competition despite a valiant showing against Mongolian judoka Bavuudorjiin Baasankhüü, who went on to win silver in the event.