Indian Shooters Face Tough Luck at Paris Olympics

The Indian shooting team had a tough day at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, failing to make it past the qualification stage in the 10m air rifle mixed team event. Ramita Jindal and Arjun Babuta found themselves finishing in sixth place with a score of 628.7, while their teammates Elavenil Valarivan and Sandeep Singh ended in twelfth with an aggregate of 626.3.

Things looked promising for Ramita and Arjun at one point as they were placed fifth with only three shots remaining. Unfortunately, they fell just one point short of reaching the medal round and securing a spot in the finals.

During their performance, Arjun Babuta had a spectacular sequence in the second relay, scoring 10.5, 10.6, 10.5, and 10.9. Ramita’s scores varied a bit, with results of 10.2, 10.7, 10.3, and 10.1 in the same series. Together, their efforts pushed them into the top 8 momentarily, but they needed a bit more to qualify for the medal matches.

Indian shooters have yet to secure a shooting team medal at the Olympics and continued their struggle. The top spots in the qualification round went to teams from China, Korea, and Kazakhstan, with a strong performance leading to their advancement.

The day didn’t just focus on shooting; several Indian athletes were set to compete in other events, including hockey, badminton, tennis, table tennis, rowing, and boxing. The Indian men’s hockey team, led by Harmanpreet Singh, was keen to begin its campaign against New Zealand at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium.

In badminton, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were gearing up for a match against French players in their group, while Lakshya Sen was prepared to face Guatemala’s Kevin Cordon. The atmosphere was charged as the athletes hoped to bring home some medals for their country.

As the day progressed, it was clear that the Indian contingent had high hopes for various sports, although the day started with disappointment in shooting.