Paris (France): A day before Manu Bhaker opened India's medal tally by winning the bronze medal, ace shooter Arjun Babuta had an opportunity to win a medal for India in the shooting event at the ongoing Paris Olympics Games on Monday. Arjun, who finished seventh in the qualification round, finished at the fourth place in the 10m Air Rifle Individual final.
Babuta maintained the second spot during the first 16 shots and was eyeing to clinch the silver medal. However, a slightly poor shot of 10.1 on his 17th attempt saw him slumping to fourth place.
The 25-year-old needed the perfect 10.9 strike to equal Croatia's Maricic Miran's in his 20th attempt, but the Indian managed to collect 9.5 points, which proved to be his last shot in the event. Arjun amassed 208.4 points in total while the Croatian, who finished third, accumulated 209.8 points.
Babuta began the final with a 10.7, followed with a 10.2, 10.5, 10.4 strikes. His fourth attempt of 10.4 lifted him to the third spot and finished the series with a staggering 10.6.
10m Air Rifle Men's Final
— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) July 29, 2024
Valiant effort from Arjun Babuta, who shot a 208.4 to finish 4th.
The shooter was in fine fettle as he pushed the medallists all the way at #ParisOlympics2024. pic.twitter.com/JLMlBmBTCe
A second series saw him starting with a 10.7, which was followed with a 10.5 and a near-perfect shot of 10.8 in the second shot of the first elimination series. That effort propelled him into second place while reducing the deficit between him and world record-holder Chinese Sheng Lihao to 0.1 points. However, the Chinese Sheng shot the 10.6 pointer, but, in reply, Babuta managed to achieve only 9.9. In the process, he could not sustain the form and missed out on the medal.
Lihao claimed the top honours in this event with an Olympic record of 252.2. Sweden's Victor Lindgren took the silver medal with a score of 251.4, followed by Croatia's Miran Maricic (230) at the third spot.
