Arjun Babuta at Paris Olympics 2024 Highlights & Score: Heartbreak for Arjun Babuta, narrowly misses out on a medal

Arjun Babuta at Paris Olympics 2024 Final Highlights: Babuta came close to a podium finish but slipped in the final moments ton finish fourth. Follow Sportskeeda for live updates on Arjun Babuta at the Paris Olympics 2024

That brings us to the end of our coverage of the Men's 10m Air Rifle Finals. It was Darpan Tikiya taking you through the action as it unfolded. Sportskeeda continues to cover the entire Indian contingent in action at Paris. Click here to be redirected to our main blog. Scroll below to read the highlights of this match.

Heartbreak for Arjun Babuta, finishes 4th. China's Sheng Lihao takes the gold!

India's Olympic story is filled with a number "so near, yet so far" tales. Today, Arjun Babuta joins an illustrious list of Indian athletes who finished 4th, just outside of the medal zone, at the quadrennial event. Some other noteworthy names include Milkha Singh, PT Usha and weightlifting legend Kunjarani Devi.

Babuta started off strong. His first shot was a 10.7. In fact, he found himself occupying the second spot for a long time. Moreover, he even came within the touching distance of the total score of Sheng Lihao, who had been leading the charts from the offset. At one point, Babuta was only 0.1 points behind. But in the final few moments he missed his mark. Perhaps, the pressure got to him. His last shot was a 9.5. Victor Lindgren and Marin Maricic overtook him.

Though, the Indian supporters in the crowd cherished Babuta's performance. They were right behind him throughout the competition, spurring him on. Even as he bowed out, he received a thunderous round of applause. After all, being 4th at the Olympics is no mean feat. Albeit, the sting of not having his hands on the medal would remain.

Men's 10m Air Rifle - Final Standings

GOLD: Sheng Lihao (China)
SILVER: Victor Lindgren (Sweden)
BRONZE: Miran Maricic (Croatia)

4th: Arjun Babuta (India)
5th: Danilo Dennis Sollazzo (Italy)
6th: Petar Gorsa (Croatia)
7th: Choe Daehan (South Korea)
8th: Marcelo Julian Gutierrez (Argentina)

China take the gold!

Sheng Lihao wins his second gold medal at Paris Olympics! After securing a gold medal at the mixed event yesterday, Lihao has added yet another feather to the cap. He took an early lead and never looked back. Though, Arjun Babuta close at one point, the Indian shooter slipped in the final moments to finish outside the medal zone. Eventually, it came down to Lihao vs Victor Lindgren of Sweden. The Chinese shooter prevailed over the World Champion.

Croatia's Miran Maricic gets bronze

Maricic finishes with a total score of 230.5. World Champion Victor Lindgren (230.5) and China's Sheng Lihao (231.1) are competing for the gold.

China's Sheng Lihao looking good for gold

Sheng Lihao continues to lead the chart with a total score of 221.1. Croatia's Maricic and Sweden's Lindgren are in the competition too.

Arjun Babuta comes 4th

HEARTBREAK FOR BABUTA! Arjun Babuta succumbs to the pressure and can only hit 9.5 in his final shot. He finishes with a tally of 208.4. He was 1.1 short of Sweden's Victor Lindgren who had 209.3 after the 18th shot.

Arjun still fourth, Needs to cover up a difference of 0.2

Arjun takes his time to shoot his shot. He hits 10.5. He has 198.9. Maricic at 3rd has 199.1. Arjun needs to leapfrog him to secure a medal.

Arjun Babuta slips to fourth. No.5 is eliminated.

Arjun hits 10.1. His total is 188.4. Italy's Danilo Dennis Sollazo is eliminated.

Arjun Babuta still in the second spot, tied with Maricic of Croatia

Arjun Babuta hits 10.5, taking his tally up to 178.3. China's Sheng Lihao still leads with a score of 180.2. Croatia Miran Maricic has 178.3 too and is tied with Babuta

Arjun back to 2nd position. Croatia's Gorsa eliminated

Arjun hits 10.7 and has a total of 167.8 now. Sheng Lihao leads with 169.8. Croatia's Petar Gorsa eliminated.

Arjun slips to no.3

Arjun Babuta hits 10.2 and takes his score to 157.1. World champion Lindgren overtakes him with 157.2. Meanwhile, Sheng hits 10.9 and has 159.1 against his name.

South Korea's Choe Daehan eliminated, Arjun comes back with 10.6.

Arjun scores 10.6 to take his tally up to 146.9. He is ranked 2nd. Sheng Lihao leads the chart with 148.2

Arjun slips.

13th shot proves unfortunate. Arjun Babuta could only score 9.9. He has a total of 136.3 and has the 2nd rank. But Sheng Lihao has augmented the lead. He has 137.3 now.

Argentina's Gutierrez eliminated; Arjun ranked 2nd.

Argentina's Marcelo Julian Gutierrez has been eliminated. Arjun Babuta hit 10.8 and is currently ranked 2nd with a score of 126.4. He is only 0.1 behind China's Sheng Lihao.

Arjun Babuta moves to second place

Arjun hits 10.7 to move his score upto 115.6. China's Sheng Lihao leads with a score of 116.1

Rankings after the first round:

1. Lihao Sheng (CHN) - 105.8
2. Miran Maricic (CRO) - 105.1
3. Arjun Babuta (IND) - 105.0
4. Petar Gorsa (CRO) - 104.8
5. Victor Lindgren (SWE) - 104.6
6. Danilo Dennis Sollazzo (ITA) - 104.1
7. Daehan Choe (KOR) - 103.3
8. Marcelo Gutierrez (ARG) - 102.7

Arjun Babuta ranked 3rd.

Arjun Babuta's final two shots are 10.6 and 10.4. He is currently placed 2nd on the chart behind China's Sheng Lihao who has 105.8. OH WAIT! Croatia's Miran Maricic overtakes him with 105.1. Babuta placed third.

Arjun Babuta ranked 2nd.

10.5 in his seventh shot, followed by a 10.4 in his eighth. Arjun Babuta takes his total score to 84.0. Currently ranked 2nd.

Arjun Babuta starts strong in the second series too.

Much like the first series, Babuta begins the second series with a shot of 10.7. He is currently ranked 3rd with a total score of 63.1.

Arjun Babuta scores 52.4 in the first series.

The first series of 5 shots is done. Arjun has scored a total of 52.4. He is currently ranked 4th. Victor Lindgren of Sweden is at the 3rd spot with 52.5. It is indeed a sport of fine margins.

Arjun Babuta moves into the top 3!

Arjun hits 10.4 and takes his total to 41.8.

Arjun Babuta ranked 4th after first three shots!

Babuta hits 10.5 in his third shot. He has a total score of 31.4 now.

Arjun Babuta ranked 4th after first two shots!

He follows his opening shot of 10.7 with a 10.2 China's Sheng Lihao leads the charts.

Arjun Babuta starts with a 10.7

Arjun Babuta takes his time to make the first shot and ends up hitting 10.7. The crowd cheers vehemently as they see his score come up.

Arjun Babuta gets a boisterous cheer

Arjun Babuta gets a thunderous round of applause as the announcer introduces him. He soaks it in by raising his right hand up. He wears an expression delineating focus and determination.

There is not an empty seat in the crowd. A number of Indians can be seen too. The players are through with their preparations.

The action is set to get underway!

The shooters are in their lane, ready to get started. Arjun Babuta is in lane E.

Biggest Threat

China's Sheng Lihao would be a favourite for the gold medal. Sheng has already bagged the gold in the mixed team event. In the individual competition, he secured silver at the Tokyo Olympics. Having finished 1st in the qualification round, he will undoubtedly be the biggest obstacle in Babuta's path to glory.

A quick reminder of the rules

Stage 1 would see each shooter take 10 shots at the target. The maximum one can score in a single shot is 10.9. After the first 10 shots begins the Stage 2, where the lowest ranked shooter would be eliminated after every two shots, until the champion is crowned.

Eventually, Babuta finished 7th in the qualification round and would now be eyeing the podium here. Can he finish in the top 3 and bring home a medal? Let us find out together.

Up until now, Babuta's time at the Paris Olympics has been nothing short of a rollercoaster ride. He, alongside Ramita, was in contention of making it to the medal round of the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team competition, until a few slip ups towards the end. Then again, in the individual competition, his ranking kept on fluctuating between the 7th and the 9th position even after he had completed his shots.

After an intense round of qualifications yesterday, 8 shooters have made it to the finals. These include India's Arjun Babuta. Born in a small village in Punjab near the India-Pakistan border, Babuta is a disciple of Colonel J. S. Dhilon - the man who coached Abhinav Bindra. Today, Babuta has a shot at glory in the same event which saw Bindra become an Olympic Champion in 2008.

Hello and welcome to Sportskeeda's LIVE coverage of the Men's 10m Air Rifle Finals.