At the Paris 2024 Olympics on Monday, Indian shooter Arjun Babuta narrowly missed a medal, finishing fourth in the men’s 10m air rifle final with a score of 208.4. Croatian shooter Miran Maricic secured the final medal position with a score of 209.8, leaving Babuta just 1.4 points short of a medal. Lihao Sheng of China set an Olympic record with a score of 252.2 to win gold, followed by Sweden’s Victor Lindgren (251.4) and Maricic (230.0).
Babuta started strong, leading early with a score of 105.0 from his first 10 shots. However, a 9.9 on his 13th shot and a 9.5 on his final shot dropped him out of medal contention. In the qualifying rounds, Babuta placed seventh with a score of 630.1, securing his spot in the final.
Ramita Jindal also competed on Monday, finishing seventh in the women’s 10m air rifle final with a score of 145.3. After a solid start, Jindal fell behind due to a 9.7 on her 10th shot. Despite a strong 10.5 in the shoot-off, she could not advance as Oceanne Muller shot a 10.8. The gold medal went to Hyojin Ban from South Korea and Yuting Huang from China, who both matched the Olympic record of 251.8. Ban won gold after a shoot-off, while Audrey Gogniat of Switzerland took bronze.
Earlier, Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh qualified for the bronze medal match in the 10m air pistol mixed team event. They scored 580-20X, placing third behind Turkiye’s Sevval Ilayda Tarhan and Yusuf Dikec (582-18X) and Serbia’s Zorana Arunovic and Damir Mikec (581-24X). The Indian pair will compete for bronze against South Korea’s Oh Ye Jin and Wonho Lee, who finished fourth with 579-18X. Oh won gold in the women’s 10m air pistol on Sunday.
