Wenzu Vella

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Wenzu Vella was one of Malta's first Olympic shooters.

1958 was the year when the first Maltese shooters became involved in an international tournament. The Mediterranean Games in Beirut, Lebanon, that year featured a team led by Major Alfred Briffa, featuring Peppi Grech and Wenzu Vella.

Their guns were not appropriate for the sport as they were designed for hunters with the barrels arranged horizontally rather than vertically, leading to their bad placement in the contest. When they moved on to the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome their rifles were “up and over” giving them a better performance. Grech hit 78/100 landing a place as 43rd out of 61 Olympic shooters, while Vella managed 70/100, ending in 56th place.

Grech went on to take part in the Olympic games again in 1968 and 1972 but Vella’s appearance in Rome was his only Olympic appearance.

He died on 27 April 2003.