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Arjun Babuta claims silver in 10m air rifle at Asian Airgun Championship
Arjun Babuta, the 18-year old shooter from Chandigarh, claimed his second international medal with a score of 249.7 at the Asian Airgun Championship.
Teenager Arjun Babuta is fast emerging as a force to reckon with in the shooting arena. The Chandigarh shooter bagged the second international medal of his career during the ongoing 10th Asian Airgun Championship at Wako City in Japan. Arjun shot a final round score of 249.7 to secure silver in junior men’s 10m Air Rifle event.
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The 18-year-old marksman had earlier created history by clinching gold in the ISSF Junior World Cup in Azerbaijan last year. On Friday, he came close to winning a gold medal again as his score of 249.7 was bettered by a margin of only a solitary point by China’s Yukun Liu in the final. Liu’ scores also saw him set a new junior world record.
Babuta, who is currently pursuing his bachelor’s from DAV College in Chandigarh, said he had mixed feelings about the result. Though ecstatic at winning his second international medal, he rued missing out on a chance to win gold.
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Son of a station master in railways, Babuta came to Chandigarh in 2011 and received his initial training from Abhinav Bindra’s coach col JS Dhillon. Later, he was trained by DS Chandel. He first shot to the limelight two years ago when he clinched the youth and junior titles in 10 M Air Rifle in 2015 nationals. In 2016, with a score of 183.6 in the final, the youngster bagged a silver medal in ISSF Junior World Cup in Azerbaijan.
Babuta now aims to continue his good run in the Senior Nationals starting in Kerala next week and then the trial series for Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.
