Selection Trials For Paris Olympic Games: Arjun Babuta Shoots World Record Score

Babuta, the 25-year-old Paris Olympics quota winner, shone with a sensational tally of 254.0 in the OST T1 final. The score was 0.3 above the mark set by fellow finalist and India teammate Divyansh Singh Panwar at the Cairo World Cup earlier this year.

Also registering wins in their respective OST T1 final matches were Nancy (women's 10m air rifle), Varun Tomar (men's 100m air pistol) and Rhythm Sangwan (women's 10m air pistol).

Babuta's score-sheet had two perfect 10.9s, besides 13 shots which were 10.6 and above.

His lowest score of 10.0 came on the 21st shot, by which time he had already established a huge lead over the field, winning by 2.8 points in the end over 2022 world champion Rudrankksh Patil (251.2). Sri Karthik Sabari Raj (229.6) was third.

Nancy too excelled in the women's 10m air rifle, securing a comfortable win in OST T1 final.

Her tally of 253.4, missed the world mark by 0.6, but it was sufficient to ward off quota holder Mehuli Ghosh by 0.7 points (252.7). Olympian Elavenil Valarivan (230.5) was third.

The men's 10m air pistol final saw Paris quota holder Varun Tomar secure yet another comfortable victory, with a score of 244.1. Ravinder Singh (240.0) was 4.1 points behind in second, while Varun's fellow Paris quota holder Sarabjot Singh (217.4) picked up the final podium spot.

Rhythm Sangwan, one of three shooters in the women's field to have qualified for both 10m air pistol and 25m sports pistol trials, made up for her earlier disappointment in the sports pistol trials, by comprehensively winning the first trial match in 10m air pistol.

After topping the qualification round on Wednesday with a score of 578, she led from start to finish in the finals to collect the highest podium points available. Her score of 243.5 was a massive 5.7 points better than second-placed Manu Bhaker (237.8). Reigning Asian Games champion Palak (217.5) finished third.

In the men's and women's 50m rifle 3-positions OST T2 qualification round, Olympians Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Anjum Moudgil topped the scoring charts.

Aishwary was especially sensational, posting a superb 595 to take an eight-point lead against his nearest rival Swapnil Kusale (587).

Niraj Kumar (587), Chain Singh (585) and Akhil Sheoran (584) were placed third, fourth and fifth respectively after the qualification round.

In women's 50m rifle 3-positions OST T2 qualification round, Olympian Anjum Moudgil shot 589, followed by Asian Games gold medallist Sift Kaur Samra (587), Shriyanka Sadangi (587), Nischal Singh (587) and Ashi Chouksey (585).