Shooting ace from the Bay hits top spot

Not only is he a sharpshooter in the boardroom, but Giuseppe Tagliaferri is no slouch on the shooting range as he competed in the Grand Prix d'Italia before winning the Guido Polsinelli Memorial Trophy last week.
Handling big pressure situations and holding his nerve were the keys to his success as he overcame a spirited Stefano Narducci, the current world champion, in the sudden-death shootout.
In what he terms as a “competition within a competition”, Tagliaferri earned the right to contest the Polsinelli Memorial Trophy, after finishing second in the Grand Prix d’Italia.
Tagliaferri said it was a massive honour to have brought home such a prestigious title, which is named after revered Italian marksman Guido Polsinelli.
“I have now represented South Africa five times at international events over three years.
“This sport requires hours of shooting and mental preparation. The mental element is the hardest as you need exposure at competition level to build this competence and ability to win,” the PE Clay Target Club member said.
Due to work commitments and long travelling time, the Lear Corporation managing director arrived at the competition venue only on the Friday before the event.
He wasted no time getting dialled in, shooting a near-perfect score, downing 99 out of 100 targets. The competition was held over two days, May 19 and 20, with six countries represented.
A total of 200 targets were shot across eight rounds.
On the first day, Tagliaferri shot three perfect rounds out of four to end the day with a score of 99 out of 100, claiming first place ahead of world number one Narducci.Despite feeling the effects of the previous day’s competition, he finished day two with a score of 96 out of 100 and a 195 out of 200 after eight rounds.
With Narducci first on 196 out of 200, Tagliaferri and another competitor tied for second and three others tied for fourth on 194, a shoot-off was held to determine the top five positions.
He finished in second behind Narducci to secure his spot in the penultimate showdown.
From there, a final three was decided via a 25-target shoot-out, and saw Tagliaferri, Narducci and Niccola Fabri, who each posted perfect scores, progress to the final showdown for the trophy.
“Going into that final round, I was just focused on what I needed to do to succeed. I cannot begin to describe the feeling of walking out onto the shooting pad knowing that from all these top shooters, only three would progress to the final,” he said.
In the final round, contested under sudden-death conditions, Fabri was the first to crack when he missed his target, leaving only Narducci and Tagliaferri going head-to-head for the title.
“The final was unbelievable. I knew that these moments only came around once in a lifetime, so you either seize them or you don’t.
“There were a lot of spectators watching the final, but they were so quiet you could hear a pin drop,” he added.
Tagliaferri has won a several titles in his career, but said this, his first international title, was one he would cherish for a long time.
He said the sport had a fairly strong following in the Bay, with more and more youngsters joining the fold.
His next shooting assignment will come in the form of the world championships to be held in Hungary in July.

FREE TO READ | Just register if you’re new, or sign in.



Questions or problems? Email helpdesk@heraldlive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00.