Asian Shooting C'ships: Arjun, Tilottama Paris Olympic quota in 10m air rifle events

Changwon (Korea): Indian shooters Arjun Babuta and Tilottama Sen have clinched 2024 Paris Olympic quota places by securing silver medals in the men's and women's 10m air rifle events, respectively, at the Asian Shooting Championships, here on Friday.

India now have successfully obtained 10 Olympic quota places in shooting, which includes the maximum allotment of two positions for each gender in the 10m air rifle events. Prior to this, Rudrankksh Patil secured a quota place in the men's air rifle event, while Mehuli Ghosh did the same in the women's air rifle category.

In the men's 10m air rifle final, Babuta shot 251.2 to finish behind Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Sheng Lihao of China, who shot 252.1. Japan's Naoya Okada took bronze with 230.6.

Another Indian in the final, Divyansh Singh Panwar finished fourth with 209.6.

Earlier, the 24-year-old Arjun topped the qualification round with a score of 633.4 while Divyansh finished third with a score of 632.3 and Hriday Hazarika with 626.7 finished 21st.

Moreover, the trio of Arjun, Divyansh and Hriday, with a combined score of 1892.4, won the gold medal in the men’s 10m air rifle team event, beating China to the top podium.

In the women’s 10m air rifle final, 15-year-old Tilottama Sen, who finished sixth in the qualification round with 630.5 points, shot 252.3 in the final to settle for silver.

South Korea’s Eunji Kwon took the gold with 252.4 while Tilottama’s compatriot Ramita, who shot 629.5 in qualifying, clinched bronze with 230.6 score.

Elavenil Valarivan shot 631.5 in qualifying to finish third while Nancy placed seventh with 630.3. Both were shooting for ranking points only (RPO).

In the women's 10m rifle team event, a trio of Tilottama and Ramita Jindal and Shriyanka Sadangi took the bronze, scoring combined total of 1886.2 to finish behind China and Singapore.

The Indian duo of Anant jeet Singh Naruka, an Asian Games 2023 silver medallist, and Darshna Rathore, meanwhile, bagged a gold medal in the mixed team skeet event after beating Kuwait 40-37 in the gold medal playoff.

The Asian Shooting Championships serve as a qualification opportunity for the Paris 2024 Olympics, with a total of 24 Olympic quota places available.

In each of the 12 Olympic shooting events, the top two finishers (one per country) secure a coveted spot for their national teams