The 25-year-old Indian shooter Arjun Babuta is ready for his challenge at the Paris 2024 Olympics. In the upcoming Summer Olympics, he will participate in the 10m air rifle men and 10m air rifle mixed team events (with Ramita Jindal).
Arjun Babuta’s latest ISSF World Ranking (10m air rifle men): 14
Article Contents:
Early life
Shining start
Difficult time since 2018
Recent performances
How did Arjun Babuta qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics
Participation in the Paris 2024 Olympics
Arjun Babuta’s early life
Arjun Babuta was born on 24th January 1999 in Jalalabad West, Punjab. His father is a businessman, and his mother is a Punjabi author. Babuta’s father highly encouraged him to take up the shooting sport.
Since 2015, Babuta has been training under Deepali Deshpande, the silver medalist at the 2002 Asian Games (10m air rifle women's team) and 2004 Asian Shooting Championships (10m air rifle women), who also participated in the Athens 2004 Olympics (women's 50m rifle 3 positions).
After completing his undergraduate degree from the DAV College in Chandigarh, Babuta pursued a post-graduation course in mass communication and journalism from Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar.
Shining start
Arjun Babuta started to shine in his shooting career at an early age. In the World Championship 2017 in Suhl, Babuta finished in fifth place at the 10m air rifle men's junior event.
In the ISSF Junior World Cup 2016 and 2018, Babuta claimed three bronze medals in total (two in individual events and one in a mixed team event). On the other hand, during the Asian Championships 2017 in Wako City, Babuta won a silver medal in the 10m air rifle men's junior.
Difficult time since 2018
In the middle of 2018, Babuta’s shooting career faced massive difficulties due to injuries and health problems. He was battling with bulging discs at multiple points along his spine. He was also struggling with an intolerance to gluten and lactose.
Arjun Babuta’s recent performances
After recovering from health issues and injuries, Babuta focused on his skill development.
In the World Cup 2022 in Changwon, Babuta secured two gold medals (10m air rifle men and 10m air rifle team men). He also won another goal medal in the World Championships 2022 in Cairo (air rifle team men).
In the Asian Championships 2023 in Changwon, Babuta earned a silver medal (10m air rifle men). Meanwhile, the Indian mixed team also won the silver medal in the 10m air rifle mixed team event at the World Cup 2024 in Cairo, where Babuta was a member.
How did Arjun Babuta qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics?
Arjun Babuta secured the national quota in the 10m air rifle men's event after winning a silver medal in the Asian Shooting Championship 2023 in Changwon (South Korea).
In the four-stage selection trial, Babuta finished in the second position with the final average points of 631.80 (considering the best three performances out of four trials), behind Sandeep Singh (final average score of 632.87), and secured his place for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
During the selection trials, Babuta once equaled Divyansh Singh Panwar’s world record score of 253.7 and later broke the record by scoring 254.0. However, last June, Chinese shooter Sheng Lihao broke the record by scoring 254.5.
Arjun Babuta’s participation in the Paris 2024 Olympics
Babuta will participate in two events at the Paris 2024 Olympics. These two events are 10m air rifle men's (single) and 10m air rifle mixed team (along with Ramita Jindal) events.
