Arjun hits bull’s-eye

PTI

New Delhi, April 25

Arjun Babuta breached the existing finals world record in men’s 10m air rifle on way to a commanding win in the ongoing Olympics trials 1&2 for rifle and pistol here today.

Babuta, the 25-year-old Paris Olympics quota winner, shone with a sensational tally of 254.0 in the T1 final. The score was 0.3 above the mark set by fellow finalist and India teammate Divyansh Singh Panwar at the Cairo World Cup earlier this year.

Also registering wins in their respective T1 final matches were Nancy (women’s 10m air rifle), Varun Tomar (men’s 100m air pistol) and Rhythm Sangwan (women’s 10m air pistol).

Babuta’s scoresheet had two perfect 10.9s, besides 13 shots which were 10.6 and above. His lowest score of 10.0 came on the 21st shot, by which time he had already established a huge lead over the field, winning by 2.8 points in the end over 2022 world champion Rudrankksh Patil (251.2). Sri Karthik Sabari Raj (229.6) was third.