WHILE the gun goes both up and down, the head has to stay up.It’s the type of thinking which helped Anthony Panetta to a promising score at the opening day of the 2009 FITASC World Sporting Clay Target Shooting Championships at Laang yesterday.The Melbourne shooter finished the day with 46 out of 50 after a shaky start.“I started off pretty nervous and missed one on the first station,” he said. “I pulled it together after that though.“You can’t beat yourself up about (missing), you just have to keep your head up.”As well as the first station, Panetta missed on the fourth station in his first round and on stations two and three in his second round.He was satisified with 46.“It was a little bit light, I would’ve liked to shoot 48,” he said. “It’s still OK.”Panetta sits. equal fourth on the open leaderboard heading into the second day of competition today.Leading the open section is 15-time world title winner George Digweed, of Great Britain, who fired 49.The championships at Laang shooting range mark Panetta’s third world titles as he went to France in 1999 and New Zealand in 1991.He admitted he didn’t do as well as he had hoped but this year he is a different man.“I’m a lot older now,” the 29-year-old said. “I’m a completely different shot.“I just work a lot harder these days and as you get older, your concentration gets better.“I practice four times a week — just going out by myself and competing in events.“I would like to think I could finish in the top 10 but realistically, I don’t think about it.“I just go out there and take it one target at a time.”While a top-10 placing is in the very back of his mind, he would also love to take a medal back home to Melbourne.Panetta is making his debut in the four-man senior Australian open team, which he believes has a good shot at a podium finish.He qualified after a pair of top-five finishes at the national titles and Australian grand prix.The Geelong Clay Target Club member was looking forward to the next three days of competition.