Keilor shooter Adam Vella has won gold in the men’s trap event overnight.
It was 43-year-old Vella’s fourth Commonwealth gold after wins in the trap pairs in Manchester, Melbourne and Delhi but his first in the individual event, in which he won bronze at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
Australia’s shooters doubled their gold medal haul from Delhi in 2010, when they collected three gold, two silver and two bronze, and with federal government funding of sports now inextricably linked to medal-winning capacity and results at major competitions, their efforts over the past six days shape as vital to the sport’s future direction.
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“It wasn’t good in London and we all knew that so we basically got sat down a month ago and we got told what they expected from us, certain people in the team,” Vella said after defeating England’s defending champion, Aaron Heading, 11-9 in the gold medal match. “I’m glad I did what I got told I had to do.
“We definitely got pulled aside and it was said ‘this is what we expect from you, we’re putting the money into you and we need the results’.
“Maybe that was what we needed to hear, just to let us know what they expect. If we couldn’t do it, we might have lost some funding somewhere.”
Vella said he understood the demands of shooting administrators, coaches and managers with future access to taxpayer money on the line.
“They’re under pressure, which puts us under pressure to perform,” he said.
“It’s all about the medals. That’s what they want and if we’re going to be in the team we have to provide them. As long as you can manage the pressure, you’ll get the results and it looks like we’ve done a pretty good job.”
Vella said the whole team had been lifted by Laura Coles’ win in the women’s skeet on Friday and a gold rush has followed.
“Everyone just sort of came together and once someone won a gold, with Laura’s first gold in the skeet, it lifts the team and that’s probably what we needed to get us all motivated,” he said.
“The fourth and fifth round was a bit touch and go. The wind kind of caught me by surprise and I just tightened up a bit. I missed early in the fourth round and it put me on the back foot.
“But I knew I just had to get in the final and once I was there just change the game plan and reset the mind and attack the targets.”
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