Erik Varga of Slovakia and Fatima Galvez Marin of Spain won the men’s and women’s trap titles at the Qatar Open Shotgun Championship yesterday.
At the Losail Shooting Range, the 43-year-old, who has represented Slovakia at three Olympic Games, and has three World Champions under his belt besides two second-place finish at the World Championships, overcame the challenge of Matthew Coward-Holley of Great Britain and David Kostelecky of Czech Republic to lay his hands on the top prize of $7,000.
Three-time World Champion Varga Varga won the gold medal shoot-out with Coward-Holley 43-42 leaving Kostelecky and Aaron Heading of Great Britain to fight for the third place, with the Czech shooter winning 33-28. Coward-Holley received a cheque of $6,000 and the bronze medal winner got $5,000.
Kostelecky, an Olympic champion at the 2008 Summer Games, is a veteran of five Olympics having made his debut at the multi discipline sporting event in 1996 and so far he has missed out only on the 2004 Games. The individual men’s event was held over two days with three rounds taking place on Wednesday and two rounds took place yesterday, with six top shooters making it to the final rounds.
Earlier, overnight leader Jacopo Cipriani of Italy could not maintain his consistent run in the final round after finishing on top in the qualifying rounds. Both Cipriani and Qatar’s Mohamed al-Rumaihi finished with an identical score of 118 but on a windy and dusty day they flattered in the final rounds.
Meanwhile in the women’s individual trap event, Fatima Galvez Marin of Spain, Alessandra Perilli of San Marino and Giulia Grassia of Italy finished on the podium. 
Galvez Marin, who finished on top in the qualifying rounds, maintained her top form in testing conditions to take the gold medal and the cash prize of $7,000. 
The second place finisher pocketed $6,000 and the bronze medal winner got $5,000.
The championship ends today with the Mixed Trap team final.