Asian Championships: Babuta wins 10m air rifle silver, Olympic quota

New Delhi: Indian shooter Arjun Babuta clinched a silver medal in the men’s 10m air rifle event along with a Paris Olympic quota place for the country at the ongoing Asian Championships in Changwon, Korea on Friday.

The 24-year-old Babuta also helped the team, including Divyansh Singh Panwar and Hriday Hazarika, clinch the gold medal with an aggregate score of 1892.4.

Babuta became the ninth Indian shooter overall to clinch an Olympic quota place for India. He also became the sixth rifle shooter in both men’s and women’s categories to earn a Paris berth.

Indian shooters have bagged six quota places in rifle, two in shotgun and just one in pistol. Babuta, who hails from Chandigarh but trains at the National Centre of Excellence for shooting sport at the Karni Singh Ranges, also locked the second and final Olympic quota for the country in 10m air rifle, with compatriot Rudrankksh Patil being the first in 2022 World Championships at Cairo. A country can win a maximum of two quota places in a particular

shooting event.