ISSF World Championship: Arjun Babuta Finishes Seventh in 10m Air Rifle Final; Ravindra, Elavenil Shine on Opening Day

New Delhi — Indian shooter Arjun Babuta finished seventh in the men’s 10m Air Rifle final on the opening day of the ISSF World Championship Rifle/Pistol in Cairo. Arjun, who qualified for the final with a score of 632.5, registered 145.0 in the medal round to take seventh place.

Germany’s Maximilian Dallinger claimed the gold medal, while defending World Champion Victor Lindgren of Sweden settled for silver in a closely fought contest. Olympic champion Sheng Lihao of China took home the bronze.

Arjun started strongly with a 51.9 (10.6, 9.8, 10.6, 10.5, 10.4) in his first series and followed it up with 52.3 (10.6, 10.1, 10.7, 10.2, 10.7) in the second. However, a low shot of 9.7 in the 11th round pushed him down the leaderboard, leading to his elimination as the second shooter out.

In the men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event, Anish Bhanwala impressed with a score of 291–11x, placing him seventh after Stage 1 of qualification. Teammates Sameer Gulia and Adarsh Singh shot 286–3x and 285–8x, respectively. Stage 2 of qualification and the finals — featuring the top six shooters — will take place on Saturday.

Ravindra and Elavenil Make India Proud

India had a strong start to the championship, with Ravinder Singh securing the country’s first gold medal in the men’s 50m pistol event. Two-time Olympian and Asian champion Elavenil Valarivan followed with a brilliant bronze in the women’s 10m Air Rifle, earning her first individual World Championship medal. The event was won by reigning Olympic champion Ban Hyojin of Korea.

Ravinder scored 569 to top the 47-man field and also teamed up with Kamaljeet (540, 20th) and Yogesh Kumar (537, 24th) to win silver in the team category.

In the women’s event, Elavenil shot 633.4 in qualification to secure the fifth spot in the finals. Ban Hyojin made it through in eighth place with 633.0, while China’s Han Jiayu, the dethroned defending champion, topped qualification with 635.1. World record holder Wang Zifei of China also reached the finals and went on to win silver.

Elavenil began the final in stunning form, opening with a 10.8, reminiscent of her composed performance at the Asian Championships earlier this year in Shymkent.

With inputs from IANS