Paris Olympics: Heartbreak for India as shooter Arjun Babuta finishes 4th in men’s 10m rifle final

Indian shooter Arjun Babuta finished fourth in the men’s 10m air rifle final at the Paris 2024 Olympics on Monday. Babuta narrowly missed the medal after finishing fourth in the final with a total of 208.4. Croatia’s Miran Maricic made the medal cutoff with a score of 209.8. The Indian shooter was just 1.4 short of assuring himself a medal.

The 25-year-old Babuta— part of the Indian national shooting team since 2016—started with a 10.7 to take charge of the final early. He scored 105.0 from his first 10 shots and was third behind Lihao Sheng (105.8) and Miran Maricic (105.1).

Who is Arjun Babuta?

Born on 24 January 1999 in Jalalabad (Punjab), Babuta shifted to Chandigarh with his father after completing school in his hometown. He developed his interest in shooting during his college days in Chandigarh. To pursue his interest, he met his inspiration, Abhinav Bindra (Indian Olympic gold medalist in 2008 in shooting), in Chandigarh in 2013. Impressed with the passion of young Babuta, the gold medalist took him to coach Colonel JS Dhillon. Coach Dhillon advised Babuta to try 10m air rifle shooting. According to a TOI report, Babuta claimed his first medal at the Chandigarh State Shooting Championship in 2013.

Arjun Babuta obtained his undergraduate degree from DAV College, Chandigarh, and is studying mass communication and journalism at the Lovely Professional University. He is very much interested in music.

In 2016, Babuta won one gold medal and one bronze medal in the 10m air rifle event at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Gabala (Azerbaijan). In 2017, he won silver at the 10th Asian Airgun Championship in Wako City, Japan. The same year, he recorded his career-best score of 632.4 at a shooting event in the Czech Republic. He won one bronze medal in the 2018 ISSF Junior World Cup in Sydney.

Due to back pain and other health issues, he was forced to take a break from 2018 to 2020.

He made a comeback with a third-place finish at the Khelo India Tournament. In 2022, he won gold medals at the 2022 ISSF World Cup in Changwon in 10 10-metre air rifle, both in the individual and team events.

In 2023, he won silver in the 10-metre air rifle event at the Asian Shooting Championships, earning India a place in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. He also won gold in the team event with Divyansh Singh Panwar and Hriday Hazarika.

Mother’s message for Arjun Babuta after he finished 4th

“There will be many more battles to come, so don't lose heart. You played so well, you are very brave and courageous. It is okay, there will be more matches to play and win, and we will fall, get back up and run again,”Arjun Babuta’s mother Deepti Babuta said after he finished fourth in men's 10m air rifle competition at theParis 2024 Olympics.