William Chetcuti (born 7 January 1985) is a Maltese

sport shooter Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airguns, in forms such as ...

who specializes in the

double trap Double trap is a shotgun shooting sport, one of the ISSF shooting events. Participants use a shotgun to attempt to break a clay disk flung away from the shooter at high speed. The layout of double trap shooting is similar to that of trap shoot ...

. He won the 2011 World Cup event in Beijing and the 2004 European Junior Championship where he set what is still a world record. He was the first Maltese shooter to win a World Cup medal. At the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

he finished in joint sixth place in the

qualification. Following a shoot-off he finished ninth, missing out on a place among the top six, who progressed to the final round. He was the flag bearer at the opening ceremony. He won a bronze medal at both the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games. He then finished sixth at the 2008 World Championships. At the 2008 Olympic Games he again finished in joint sixth place in the

qualification. Following a shoot-off he finished eighth. William claimed gold at the Double Trap Men Final in 2011, finishing on the highest step of the podium with a total score of 185 targets. He also won Malta's first Olympic quota place in any sport and has participated in the

London 2012 Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, finishing in ninth. He was also the Maltese flagbearer at these Games. Maltese double trap shooter William Chetcuti won a gold medal in the

2013 Mediterranean Games The 2013 Mediterranean Games ( tr, 2013 Akdeniz Oyunları), officially known as the XVII Mediterranean Games ( tr, XVII Akdeniz Oyunları) and commonly known as Mersin 2013, was an international multi-sport event held from 20 to 30 June 2013 i ...

. This was the first gold medal in any event for Malta since Malta started participating in these games. Parliamentary Secretary for Research, Innovation, Youths and Sport, Stefan Buontempo congratulated Mr Chetcuti, the Malta Shooting Federation and the Maltese Olympic Committee for the part they played in the history making event that took place yesterday, when the first gold medal was won for Malta in the Mediterranean Games. Mr Buontempo also congratulated athletes Adam Vella, David Farrugia and Stefan Farrugia for the excellent results obtained. These results encourage more investment by the Government in the sporting industry. Chetcuti took up shooting at the age of 10, being introduced to the sport by his father and grandfather.

References

External links