German competitor Andreas Loew has been left unhappy by what he perceives to be a costly "mistake" by officials in today's men's double trap.
The 33-year-old narrowly missed out on a podium place at the European Games, having finished one point behind Italian opponent Antonino Barilla in the bronze-medal match.
Loew was shown two yellow cards during the earlier semi-final, meaning a double penalty, but he believes that he was wrongly punished.
"The two missed shots were because I put my gun on my shoulder and my rest wasn't right, so I put my gun down again but the time was already running down because we only have 12 seconds," he told reporters. "I brought my gun up and the time was running out and that's why I got a yellow card, but I already shot the targets and hit both.
"Then the referee said that I have to go again and I asked why. He said it was because of the yellow card and the time was running out. I said 'OK' but I was still talking to the main referee and the time was already counting down. Usually you need eight or nine seconds, that's normal for a shooter.
"There was no chance for me to bring my gun back up and the time was already down again and that's why I got a second [yellow card]. Then [the referee] said he had to give me a double miss. It wasn't a mistake from the main referee, it was a mistake from the guy who was counting the clock because I was still talking and he was pressing the button and there was only maybe five or six seconds left so there was no chance for me to shoot the next double."
Vitaly Fokeev went on to secure gold for Russian Federation, edging out Hungary's Richard Bognar in doing so.
Daniel Lewis
