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Gold winners: Arjun Babuta and Arya Borse beat Chinese to win 10m air rifle mixed team gold in World Cup

After winning the gold, the Indian shooters spoke about how they controlled breathing, and how their focus was to treat it as individual event to stave off pressure

India's Arjun Babuta and Arya Borse emerged as the champions in the 10m air rifle mixed team gold medal defeating Chinese Olympics stars Sheng Lihao and Wang Zefei in ISSF Munich World Cup. (PHOTO: NRAI)India's Arjun Babuta and Arya Borse emerged as the champions in the 10m air rifle mixed team gold medal defeating Chinese Olympics star Sheng Lihao and Wang Zefei in ISSF Munich World Cup. (PHOTO: NRAI)

A day after Indian shooter Suruchi Phogat became the first Indian to win three ISSF World Cup titles, the Indian pair of Arjun Babuta and Arya Borse emerged as the champions in the 10m air rifle mixed team gold medal. They clinched a 17-7 win over the Chinese Olympics star Sheng Lihao and Wang Zefei in ISSF Munich world cup on Saturday.

Lihao/Zefei had registered a world record score of 635.9 prior to the final ahead of the Indians’s 635.2 but the story changed in the final. It was also the first time that Babuta edged out Lihao, though in a team format.

“When such wins come after such high scores in qualification in mixed team format, it gives you a lot of confidence. Sheng Lihao is currently the best 10m air rifle shooter in the world and to beat such a strong mixed team will count as one of our cherished medals. A joyous final,” Babuta told The Indian Express.

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The Nasik native 22-year-old Borse, who started rifle shooting as she found the pistol to be too small a weapon, had reached the mixed team finals twice this World Cup season pairing up with Rudrankksh Patil. Babuta, 26, had reached the final of the mixed team event in the Cairo world cup last year. Babuta shot a score of 317.7 in qualification, Borse shot 317.5 to qualify for the gold medal against the Chinese pair.

“As compared to Individual events where we get 75 minutes to shoot 60 shots, here we shoot 30 shots each in 30 minutes. Yes, fatigue is less in mixed team qualification but then the margin of error is less,” Babuta spoke about the challenges, saying there is less chance of a comeback in 30 shots. “One also has to plan the series with fewer breaks without any dry shooting, which helps us in individual rounds,” says Babuta.

The previous qualification world record score of 635.8 was held by Patil and Narmada Raju in Cairo World Cup in 2023 and Borse would also talk about how it is different from individual event making to the top four teams to have a chance of a medal.

Babuta spoke about how they try to view the mixed-team event as an individual event to help them cope mentally. “We have to go with the individual shots’ mental state of mind here. I cannot control my partner’s scores and if I worry about her scores, I would not be able to give my best,” Babuta said. “In individual events, top eight shooters qualify but in mixed teams, only the top four teams qualify for the medal round,” says Borse.

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In the final, each pair shoots one shot per series with a combined score determining the series winner that yields two points. The first pair to reach 16 points win the gold.

Borse started with a 9.8, Babuta followed it with a 10.6, while Zefei/Lihao came up with 10.4 and 10.1 to take 2-0 lead. But in the next four series, the Indian pair charged ahead to a 8-2 lead. The sixth series was tied at one point each, but soon the Indians were up 13-3. Eventually, the Indians won the 12th series to win the gold 17-7.

The Indian pair shot 18 shots of 10.5 or more as compared to the Chinese’s 12 shots.

“We do a lot of breathing exercises in between to take our mind away from the total score too,” says Babuta.

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Overall, in the final, Borse shot a total of 125.7, Babuta made 127, as compared to Zefei’s 125.3 and Lihao’s 124.7.

Foreign coach Thomas Farnik too shared his views with this newspaper. “It is as individual as it gets, but then it also depends on your partner. Sometimes, shooters can tend to think about the other scores but then we simulate those conditions in national camps. Yes, India has the advantage of having good shooters in men and women’s event but then it depends on how each one of them performs in a particular series. One can recover though in this format even after having some bad series in the final,” said Farnik.

Starting 2026, ISSF will change the format of the medal matches including LA Olympics, with the top four teams in qualification fighting an elimination format. Right now, the top two teams advance to the gold medal match, and third and fourth ranked teams fight for bronze. But national coach Deepali Deshpande sees the strength of individual scores for a pair as the best chance in a newer format too.

“In national camps, we do make them practice in team formats and luckily we have some top ranked individual shooters. Yes, it’s a shared responsibility but the shooters are relaxed. The new finals elimination details are not out but I guess it will be a 24 shot format. Even then, the score of the pair will be counted and the mantra is to shoot individually.”

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

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