Former World Champion Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil added another gold to his impressive collection on Sunday at the ISSF World Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina, while Paris Olympian Arjun Babuta finished seventh in the Men’s 10m Air Rifle.
Patil made a strong start in the final, leading after the first ten shots with a score of 105.9. He maintained his lead throughout, firing eight shots of 10.5 or higher, including two perfect 10.9s and two 10.8s in the next 14 shots. Patil sealed the gold with a margin of 1.2 points, finishing ahead of Hungary’s Istvan Peni, who took the silver. This was Peni’s second medal of the competition, following his gold in the 50m Rifle Three Positions.
On the other hand, Babuta had a rough start, scoring just 102.8 in his first ten shots. At one point, it looked like he might be the first to exit the contest, but a crucial 10.5 shot allowed him to edge past Peter Matthew Fiori of USA by a narrow 0.1-point margin. Unfortunately, Babuta couldn’t survive the next elimination series even though he registered a perfect 10.9 and followed it with a 10.4.
Earlier in the qualification round, Babuta topped with an impressive score of 634.5, while Patil closely followed with a score of 633.7, setting the stage for an exciting final. Meanwhile, Peni shot 630.3, securing a spot in the highly competitive field.
Marcelo Julian Gutierrez of Argentina secured the bronze with a score of 230.1, marking his first-ever World Cup medal. In the qualification round, the Paris Olympian had posted a score of 631.4.
Reigning Olympic Champion Sheng Lihao of China shot a score of 633.1 to finish fourth in the qualification round, but did not progress to the final as he was competing for the RPO.
Last year in the Olympic Selection Trails, Patil had finished just 0.3 points behind Babuta and 1.4 points behind Sandeep Singh, narrowly missing out on a spot in the Indian team for the Paris Games. Although Patil had secured an Olympic quota alongside Babuta, he was unable to surpass Babuta and Sandeep in the trials. Both shooters ultimately finished fourth and eleventh at the Paris Games. Patil had even approached the NRAI to consider his 2022 World Championship title for Olympic consideration, but his request went unanswered.
The other Indians in the event, Kiran Ankush Jadhav shot a score of 631.5 to finish sixth in the qualification round but just like Sheng did not progress to the final as he was also competing for the RPO. Tokyo Olympian Divyansh Singh Panwar shot 628.0 (RPO) while Former Junior World Champion Hriday Hazarika shot 624.6 to finish 22nd.