Arjun Babuta clinches gold in the ISSF World Cup

Arjun and Paarth hit the bird's eye in South Korea.

Shooter Arjun Babuta struck gold at the ISSF World Cup in Changwon in South Korea. The Indian athlete scored 17 points, nearly double that of his American opponent Lucas Kozeniesky. He scored 10.2,10.9,10.7,10.5,10.1 and 10.7 in six rounds piling up an impressive total. Arjun had been impressive in the qualification as well.

The Chandigarh man scored a staggering 630.5 in the 60-shot qualification stage. He finished second among 53 other competitors. His compatriot Paarth Makhija also put up an impressive display. The qualifiers saw him finishing with a total score of 628.4. A feat Babuta bettered in the final standings. Makhija finished fourth just behind the bronze medal winner Sergey Richter.

Arjun's performance was definitely the standout of the day. He defeated the Tokyo Olympic silver winner in the finals by an impressive margin. Moreover, he also toppled veteran shooter Richter to claim the top position. The Israeli had finished top in the qualifications with a total of 631.6. However, it was Babuta who had the last laugh.

The final standings saw Arjun score 261.1 and Paarth 258.1 to finish in the top five respectively. The top four were miles ahead of the rest on the points table. The 40-point difference between Paarth Makhija and 5th Dane Sampson lays testament to the fact.

This success of the Indian shooters would undoubtedly bring relief to the Indian shooting contingent. As the Indian women shooters missed their mark in Changwon as only Mehuli Ghosh came close to qualifying. However, as luck would have it she missed out on a qualifying berth by just 0.1 point.

Inspite of this all hopes aren't lost as the women can look forward to the Trap and Air Pistol events which is kicking off from today.

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