Shooting: Gold and silver for Ede and Etherington

Graeme Ede took gold in the men's trap final. Picture / Mark Mitchell

New Zealand's shooters blasted out of their Commonwealth Games malaise in spectacular style here when Graeme Ede won a trap gold and rifle-toting Juliet Etherington a silver medal.

Ede emerged coolest in a tension-filled three-way shoot off for gold, while Etherington was one shot away from the same outcome in a double result which will silence the sport's detractors for at least one day.

The New Zealanders had managed only one medal through the first five days of competition - a bronze to rifle pair Etherington and Kathyrn Mead - leaving them well behind the medal target of 12 set for the sport by funding agency Sparc at these Games.

Ede's performance was a memorable one after two days of competition under a baking sun at the Melbourne Gun Club. In the miss-and-you're-out shoot-off he nailed two successful shots while silver medallist Manavijt Singh Sandhu of India and bronze medallist David Beattie of Northern Ireland both hit their first but not their second.

With gold hinging on his second shot, 46-year-old Ede calmly blew the pink clay pigeon apart and raised his rifle to the sky in exultation.

Ede began the 25-shot final round, comprising six shooters, two shots behind Sandhu on 120 out of 125 but reeled him in late while Beattie caught them both from behind. The trio finished on 138 points out of 150.

It was a special victory for Ede, who competed at the Victoria Commonwealth Games in 1994 but missed selection for the next two.

He cut a proud figure on the medal dais, singing quietly as the New Zealand anthem was played for just the third time at these Games.

Teammate Allan Sinclair finished ninth after tallying 115 points, leaving him one shot outside the final.

Earlier today Etherington was left with a nagging sensation after narrowly missing gold in the 50m prone rifle, for her second medal of the Games.

Etherington scored 585 points out of a maximum 600. Just one more point would have given her gold as she would have tied with Scottish winner Sheena Sharp and won on a countback.

The closeness of the result wasn't lost on Etherington, 26, who won bronze in the same event at the Manchester Games four years ago.

She wasn't sure if she would commit to the 2010 Games in New Dehli so was desperate for the top prize today.

"I would have to say I could have done better, I was only one shot off the gold," she said.

"Maybe three (out of 60) shots weren't as good as they could have been, so there were a few opportunities to score more points and to have won. But it could have been a lot worse too I suppose."

Johanne Brekke of Wales was a further shot back in third while Mead faded late to ninth with 577 points.

Etherington didn't now how the rest of the field was performing as she shot but knew she would be among the front-runners given the breezy conditions.

"I was shooting a much better match than the other day (pairs) so I was fairly confident."

She was grateful for the support of fiance Alexis Jensen and parents Derek and Alison.

"It's the first time I've had my family here at an event like this, it's not a spectator sport I suppose. It does make a big difference having them here and having Alexis around."

Earlier today two New Zealanders qualified for eight-man finals but couldn't produce the quality required there.

Ryan Taylor tied for second place after qualifying in the men's 50m prone rifle but shot easily the worst score of the eight finalists, 100.2, to finish with a total of 684.2.

His father Grant, a 1976 Montreal Olympian, missed the final after his 588 points left him 14th out of 37.

Wang Yang reached the 10m air pistol final tied for fifth but dropped to eighth after a score in the final of 95.1 which left him on 669.1 overall. Greg Yelavich missed the final, finishing 13th with a 567 total.

- NZPA