Arjun Babuta came quite close to bringing joy to the country for the second successive day, before falling short at the men's 10m air rifle shooting competition at Paris Olympics 2024. The 25-year-old finished fourth with a tally of 208.4, behind bronze medallist Miran Maricic of Croatia. (Highlights | Full Olympics Coverage | More Sports News)
Babuta could only muster a 9.5 in response to Maricic's 10.7 during the elimination, that put paid to his hopes of finishing on the podium.
The 25-year-old from Fazilka started the final with a 10.7 and followed that with a 10.2.
A third shot of 10.5 saw him take the fourth spot while a 10.4 in his fourth attempt lifted him to the third spot. He finished the first series with a solid 10.6.
He started the second series with a 10.7, followed that with a 10.5 and shot a near-perfect 10.8 in the second shot of the first elimination series.
That effort lifted him into the second place while cutting the deficit between him and world record holder Chinese Sheng Lihao to 0.1 point.
But Babuta could not sustain the form and missed out on the medal.
Lihao claimed the gold medal with an Olympic record of 252.2. Sweden's Victor Lindgren took the silver with a score of 251.4, followed by Croatia's Miran Maricic (230) at the third spot.
(With PTI inputs)
