Wellington shooter Ed Ling fails to qualify for finals after poor last round (From Somerset County Gazette)

Wellington shooter Ed Ling fails to qualify for finals after poor last round

11:50am Monday 6th August 2012 in Wellington & Wiveliscombe By Daniel Milligan

SHOOTER Ed Ling did his country proud despite not qualifying for the finals of the Men’s Trap competition at the London Olympic today (August 6).

Ed from Nynehead, near Wellington , was sitting pretty in ninth spot but only hit 21 of his 25 clays in the final round of qualifying to send him tumbling down the table and out of reach of the top six final qualification places.

The 29-year-old sat in 23rd place in the table yesterday after round one but sat in 12th place overnight after a flawless third round at the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich.

He got the perfect start this morning, hitting all of the 25 clays but was unable to produce the same in the final round to leave him with a score of 118 from 125 clays.

Support for Ed has been piling in via social networking site Twitter.

Ryan Marks, of Honiton, tweeted: "Come on Ed! You can do it!"

Ken Parr, a Commonwealth Games medallist in rifle shooting tweeted: "25/25 for Ed Ling in his 4th round” come on Ed!!!!"

After Ed’s last round, GB Shooting tweeted: “Well done Ed, we’re all proud of you.”

The top six from the qualifying rounds now head into the final which takes place at 4pm.

The current leader is Australian Michael Diamond who has hit all of his 125 clays.