He may have just fallen short of a men’s trap shooting medal at the first-ever European Games but London 2012 Olympian Ed Ling insists he can still hold his head up high after mixing it with the best in Baku.
Ling, winner of silver at last year’s World Championships, navigated his way through to the semi-finals on Wednesday where he shot a round of 12 to rank fourth.
All was not lost however with the 32-year-old qualifying for the bronze medal final where he faced double Olympic silver medallist Giovanni Pellielo of Italy.
Unfortunately a couple of misses handed the initiative to Pellielo although a late wobble almost opened the door for the Brit, before the Italian held his nerve to seal the bronze on his penultimate shot – the final result coming out at 13-11.
But Ling insisted there were still plenty of positives having shot himself into medal contention in Azerbaijan.
“The standard of shooting in Baku has been very high and I knew I needed to come out and get a good score earlier on today and to shoot 25 in my final qualification round to make the final was great,” he said.
“It shows I’m strong and can come back into contention and that’s something I always like to do.
“I’d have taken a spot in the final any day. To get there is a tough thing in itself.
“I lost a couple in the wind in the final match but I’m quite happy with fourth. The wind wasn’t any worse today but you find when it blows into your eyes that they can water a bit – but that’s all part of what you have to deal with and it’s the same for everyone.”
Meanwhile fellow men’s trap shooter Brad Davis was unable to make his way out of the second day of qualification rounds after finishing 27th with a total of 115.
But despite the disappointment, the 2014 British silver medallist was keen to learn from the whole Baku experience.
“It was tough conditions today, yesterday was pretty good to be honest but it was tough today,” he said.
“I'm shooting really nice and practice has been solid and I felt like I had a score in me so I'm a little bit disappointed.
“I've really enjoyed the experience of being part of Team GB in Baku, it's a massively positive experience just to be here and be in the village.
“The lineups are the best in Europe at the moment and to put yourself up against that is a great experience and a brilliant learning curve for the future.”
© Sportsbeat 2015