Duo captures silver medal in their respective events to take India's quota tally to 10

CHENNAI: It was a day that belonged to rifle shooters from India.

In a high-pressure environment, the Indians were a picture of composure, determination as they added two Olympic quotas to India's tally in the ongoing Asian Shooting Championships in Changwon, South Korea. Arjun Babuta and Tilottama Sen captured a silver medal each to secure the all-important quotas in the 10m air rifle events.

This is India's third quota in the continental event so far. In total, India has won a total of 10 quotas.

Opening the day's quota account was Arjun in the men's 10m air rifle event.

After topping the qualification round with a score of 633.4, the 24-year-old from Chandigarh showed no signs of slowing down. He was as impressive in the finals and finished just behind Chinese prodigy Lihao Sheng, an 18-year-old who's an Olympic silver medallist.

Arjun had to bring his A-game in the finals which witnessed a high level of competition. Even when he was behind initially, Arjun never seemed fazed and found some high 10s mid-way through the final. He eventually finished with a tally of 251.2.

                                                   Arjun Babuta

Arjun's gain was Divyansh Singh Panwar's loss. Divyansh, who was part of the Tokyo Olympics, did have a strong crack at the finals and was unlucky to miss out. Lower scores as compared to leaders in the earlier rounds eventually proved to be the difference-maker as he finished fourth. There were two quotas on the line in the said competition. Naoya Okada of Japan also earned a quota after finishing third. Meanwhile, Divyansh, Arjun and Hriday Hazarika, the third Indian in the competition, won gold in the team event.

Just an hour or so later, it was Tilottama, who's just 15, and Ramita's opportunity to step up in the women's 10m air rifle event. There was not much to separate the two as they dominated the proceedings. Like the men's event, the women's affair was equally gripping with both Indians shooting high 10s, round-after-round, and showing no signs of slowing down. If Tilottama hit a 10.5, Ramita would respond with the same score or do better. It was a fascinating watch and it seemed like the Indians would go on to finish one-two.

However, the narrative changed drastically with two shots remaining. With three shooters and as many shots left, Ramita made her only error of the final and it proved to be a fatal one. She shot 9.9 and that sealed her fate. That shot kept Korea's Kwon Eunji in the hunt, lifting her from third to second. That drew huge cheers from the local fans, who were rooting for Eunji. The moment was a harsh reality for Ramita, who had followed the textbook until that miss.

Eunji then went on to overtake Tilottama in the next shot and lead by the barest of margins (.2). In the final shot, the Korean was the first to pull the trigger. The scoreboard read 10.4. Tilottama had to hit 10.6 or better. However, she just missed her target and hit 10.4 instead, finishing .1 behind Eunji.

That sums up the sport in a nutshell.