Paris Olympics: Young Arjun Babuta and the curse of the fourth finisher

After Abhinav Bindra and Joydeep Karmakar, young rifle shooter Arjun Babuta became the latest name in the shooting range for whom it was a case of "so near and yet so far" in what they call the greatest show on earth. The 25-year-old from Chandigarh suffered the heartbreak of a fourth-place finish in a closely-contested 10m air rifle event at the Chateauroux shooting range where Manu Bhaker gave India their first medal in the Paris Olympics a day before.

It’s always a case of small margins in shooting – as Bindra, the iconic gold medallist in Beijing 2008, realised the hard way when he had to finish fourth in his favourite 10m air pistol eight years later in Rio 2016. Four years before that, Karmakar had to undergo a similar agonising experience in 50 metres rifle prone event in London.

The experiences of Flying Sikh Milkha Singh, P.T. Usha or gymnast Dipa Karmakar have been also part of India’s Olympic folklore, but that would be hardly a consolation for Arjun. He was consistently in the medal spots but with a medal within sight, a final shot of 9.5 saw his campaign end empty-handed.

 If the new generation of Indian shooters have sought their inspiration from Bindra, Arjun’s link to him was more than a tenuous one. His father Neeraj had once approached the country’s first-ever individual Olympic gold medallist to get his suggestions about how his son should pursue the sport. Bindra introduced the Babutas to his coach colonel J.S. Dhillon in 2013 and the later suggested him to take up rifle shooting.

Arjun started training for the 10-meter air rifle shooting and the same year, he won his first medal at the Chandigarh State Shooting Championship. Two years later, Arjun broke into the national team where he started to train under national coach Deepali Deshpande. Shooting circles say that he would train for as many as 10 hours daily to improve his skills in the sport.

Hailing from a middle-class family from Jalalabad region of Punjab, Arjun completed his primary education in his hometown which is near the India-Pakistan border. He later moved to Chandigarh along with his family as his father worked with Indian Railways and completed his graduation at DAV College in Chandigarh.

The last two years saw the tenacious Arjun reaping honours at the international level – with his silver at the Asian Championship in Korea helping him earn an early quota place for Paris. In 2022, he dazzled with gold in the World Championship in Cairo while he picked up gold medals in individual and men’s team events in the ISSF World Cup in Changwon. In 2021, he shot to top honours in the World University Games in his 10m air rifle.

Like in Tokyo, the Union Ministry of Sports & Youth Affairs had invested a hefty sum for the 21-member shooting contingent. Arjun had been one of the major beneficiaries with Rs 1.09 crores spent for him under the annual calendar for Training and Competition (ACTC) and another Rs 18.15 lakh from Target Olympic Medal Scheme (TOPS).

The earlier he shakes off the heartbreak and moves on, the better!