Arjun Babuta in action during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games© X (Twitter)
Indian shooter Arjun Babuta buckled under pressure to finish fourth in the men's 10m air rifle competition after nearly winning a medal at his first Olympic Games on Monday. Babuta shot a total of 208.4. A 9.5 in response to Croatia's Miran Maricic's 10.7 ended his hopes of a podium finish. The 25-year-old Babuta opened the final with a 10.7 and followed that up with a 10.2. A third shot of 10.5 earned him fourth place, while a 10.4 in his fourth attempt moved him to third. He closed the first series with a solid 10.6. He opened the second series with a 10.7, followed that up with a 10.5 and shot a near-perfect 10.8 in the second shot of the first elimination series.
That performance moved him into second place and closed the gap to world record holder Sheng Lihao of China to 0.1 points.
However, he could not maintain the form and missed out on the medal.
Lihao took top honors in this event with an Olympic record score of 252.2. Sweden's Victor Lindgren took silver with a score of 251.4, followed by Croatia's Miran Maricic (230) in third.
Topics mentioned in this article
