Indian shooter Arjun Babuta clinched the silver medal in the men’s 10m air rifle event at the ISSF World Cup 2025.
In a nail-biting final, Babuta (252.3), who had finished fourth at the Paris Games last year, lost by just 0.1 points to reigning Olympic champion Sheng Lihao of China (252.4).
Babuta had a strong opening part to the second competition stage, but Sheng managed to slowly close the gap, sitting just 0.3 behind into the last two shots.
A 10.3 and 10.5 looked good enough to seal the title, but Sheng pulled out a 10.9 and a 10.3 to sneak ahead, with the totals finishing 252.4 to 252.3.
Seasoned Hungary shooter Istvan Peni, with over 40 ISSF medals to his name, bagged the bronze in what was a world-class field with a total of 229.8.
The final featured a star-studded line-up, including reigning world champion and Paris silver medallist Victor Lindgren of Sweden, Jon-Hermann Hegg of Norway and India’s former world champion Rudrankksh Patil.
Meanwhile, Rudrankksh Patil, was disqualified after the second series of shots for violating ISSF Rule 6.11.1.1.h, which relates to “shooting before the command” given by the range officials. Patil finished eighth with 104.8.
In the 10m air rifle women’s event in the second leg of the ISSF World Cup circuit, Arya finished a good fifth in the 10m air rifle women’s event after shooting a superb 633.9 on Saturday to qualify for the final.
She finished behind the reigning junior world champion and eventual gold medalist Wang Zifei of China, who set three world records on the day.
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Arya, bowed out after the 18th shot of the 24-shot final, her score reading 188.1, just 0.1 behind silver-winning reigning world champion Han Jiayu of China, who was fourth at that stage.
India is now placed third in the medals tally with two golds, two silvers and one bronze, putting them a gold behind the USA, which is in second position.
