Paris Olympics: NZ trap shooting team clinch Games spot after Australians miss check-in time

A dramatic scene unfolded during trap shooting qualification for the Paris Olympics, with the incident drawing comparisons to the infamous underarm cricket incident of 1981.

Australia’s James Willett was tipped to win the final of the November event in Brisbane, which would have sent the New Zealand team packing and booked the Aussies a spot in Paris.

But in a twist that means the Australian team is on the verge of missing their first Olympics since 1968, Willet missed the mandatory check-in time ahead of the final and an eagle-eyed Kiwi coach protested, resulting in Willett being docked two competition points.

New Zealand’s Owen Robinson emerged victorious from the tie by a two-point margin and jubilant scenes erupted as the Kiwis secured their ticket to Paris.

The result leaves Australia with a solitary opportunity for a team member to gain qualification to the Olympics and they will head to Qatar’s capital, Doha, in a bid to save the team’s blushes.

While discussing the Brisbane incident, Willet’s private coach, five-time Olympian Russell Mark, referred to Trevor Chappell’s underarm delivery against Brian McKechnie when the New Zealand batter needed a six to win a match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

“New Zealand are still laughing about it – they are saying there is your justice for the underarm delivery,” Mark said.

“There is no way you could expect New Zealand to be in Paris ahead of Australia but they are saying, ‘hey, you blokes ran that event in Brisbane and didn’t even follow your own rules’.”

In a further twist, Robinson revealed in an interview with Newstalk ZB that other members of the New Zealand team had been penalised similarly just days before.

“We had a few skeet shooters shooting a couple of days before us and the Aussies docked them two targets for turning up late... so it was kind of payback on them as well.”

In typical Kiwi fashion when speaking about a battle with our transtasman cousins, Robinson said he wishes he’d been able to put up a bigger score.

“I was three targets ahead pretty much going into my last three, I sort of knew that I’d won it and just let the pressure off. To be fair, it would have been nice to win by three but I’ll take the win, take the spot for the Olympics.”

The highly-touted Australian team would have been expected to waltz into the Olympics but Robinson said for him it was a payoff for a decade and a half of hard work.

“I’ve been trying to make the Olympics for 15-odd years now and that Olympic spot, they’re not the easiest things to get, so yeah, it was pretty satisfying to actually win it.”

In response to the dire situation the Australian team finds themselves in, Shooting Australia have accepted a free-of-charge offer from Atlanta gold medallist Mark to help Australia’s men’s trap team ahead of their trip to Doha.