Nathan Lee Xuereb made it a hat-trick of European Junior Championship titles after winning the gold medal in the double trap competition held in Italy, yesterday.

Xuereb, who had won the junior continental championships in Germany in 2013 and Hungary the following year, again confirmed himself as one of the rising stars of the sport on the international scene when topping the competition with an impressive display in Lonato.

The 18-year-old was solid in the qualifying round, compiling scores of 27, 30, 26, 25 and 26 to amass 134 points and finish fourth to make the top-six cut. Italy’s Jacopo Dupre De Foresta led the standings on 141.

Xuereb turned on the style in the semi-final stage with an almost flawless performance when hitting 29 from 30 clays to finish top and progress to the gold medal final against Dupre De Foresta who placed second on 27.

The final was almost a one-sided affair as Xuereb outpointed his rival 28-24 to make it another memorable shoot at this level.

Yesterday, Gianluca Chetcuti and Liam Sciberras were the other Maltese shooters competing in the 13-strong junior double trap event.

Chetcuti hit scores of 22, 25, 27, 23 and 30. He finished 11th on 127 points.

Sciberras registered 20, 19, 20, 20 and 17 to place 13th on 96 points.

In the senior competition, William Chetcuti missed out on a place in the semi-finals after classifying tenth at the end of the qualifying stage.

Chetcuti, fresh from his gold medal success in a World Cup shoot in Baku, Azerbaijan last month, looked on course to reach the semi-final stage when registering scores of 28, 28, 27 and 28.

But a poor 23 in the final round cost him dearly as he only managed 134, three behind Hungary’s Roland Gerebics who took the final semi-final spot.

Russia’s Vasily Mosin won the gold medal after edging Italy’s Daniele Di Spigno 30-29 in a tense final.