Chandigarh shooter Arjun Babuta wins silver in Asian Airgun Championship 2017

Babuta, who had won a historic bronze medal in last year's ISSF Junior World Cup in Azerbaijan, missed the gold medal by a whisker as Yukun Liu of China won the gold medal with a junior world record score of 249.8 in the final.

arjun babuta, chandigarh shooter, asian airgun championship 2017, waki city japan, sharp shooter, silver medal, junior category, 10 m rifle pistol category, indian express

Chandigarh shooter Arjun Babuta poses with the silver medal during the medal ceremony in the Asian Airgun Championship in Japan on Friday. Babuta shot a score of 249.7 in the final in junior category in the 10 M Air Rifle event to win the silver medal. (Express)

Chandigarh shooter 18-year-old Arjun Babuta made his way to his second international medal of the year when he shot a final round score of 249.7 to win the silver medal in the junior category in the 10 M Air Rifle event in the 10th Asian Airgun Championship 10 M Rifle/Pistol being held at Wako City, Japan. Babuta, who had won a historic bronze medal in last year’s ISSF Junior World Cup in Azerbaijan, missed the gold medal by a whisker as Yukun Liu of China won the gold medal with a junior world record score of 249.8 in the final.

“It was a close final and it is a day of mixed feelings for me. I shot a score of 623.8 in the qualification and shot well in the final. I had a chance to win the gold medal till the last shot of the final but unfortunately I shot a score of 9.5 at the last show. The floor at the range was shaky and it was tough shooting in such conditions but I am happy to win my second medal at the international level this year,” shared Babuta, who is a student of BA-II in DAV College, Sector 10.

Babuta, whose father Neeraj Babuta is Station Master in railways posted at Ferozepur, Punjab, shifted his base to Chandigarh in 2011 and initially trained under Abhinav Bindra’s coach col JS Dhillon before training under coach DS Chandel. The youngster became the Punjab champion in 2025 apart from winning the youth and junior titles in 10 M Air Rifle in 2015 nationals. Last year, Babuta won the silver medal in ISSF Junior World Cup in Azerbaijan with a score of 183.6 in the final where Czech Republic’s Filip Nepejchal won the gold medal. This year has seen Babuta winning the silver medal in Shooting Hopes Shooting Championship, Czech Republic apart from finishing fifth in ISSF Junior World Cup in Germany.

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“Competing at the international level in the junior circuit is the key for me and the medal in Czech Republic early this year boosted my confidence. My next target is the Senior Nationals to be held in Kerela next week apart from the trial series for Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. I finished fourth in last month’s trials and shooting consistent scores has been on my mind. National chief coach for juniors Deepali Deshpande and Deepak Kumar Dubey has been helping us a lot,” shared Babuta.

Coach Deepak Kumar Dubey saw the finals and terms Babuta’s performance as a strong performance. “Arjun shot a good qualification score and it helped him in the final. He shot well in the first series and recovered well in the last series to miss the gold medal narrowly. But such contests will boost his confidence a lot,” shared Dubey.

Nitin Sharma

Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story ‘Harmans of Moga’, Nitin has also been a two-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022 and 2023 respectively. Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women’s cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships. An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin’s interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read More