Arjun and Ramita shine but fall short of 10m Rifle Mixed Team final

India's shooting campaign at the Paris Olympics 2024 began on a somber note as both rifle pairs failed to make the finals in the 10m air rifle mixed team event at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre on Saturday. Ramita Jindal and Arjun Babuta scored 628.7 to finish sixth in the 28-team qualification round, while Elavenil Valarivan and Sandeep Singh ended up 12th with a combined score of 626.3. In this event, only the top four pairs advance to the final, unlike the individual event, where eight shooters qualify. The top two teams in the final compete for gold, while the third and fourth teams vie for the bronze medal.

High standards and tough competition

In the mixed team event, each shooter fires three series of 10 shots, totaling 30 shots per shooter and 60 shots per pair. The scores are then added to determine the team's final score. Despite Babuta hitting a perfect 10.9 in his second series, the pair fell short due to the high level of competition. The Chinese team, consisting of Sheng Lihao and Huang Yuting, topped the qualification round with 632.2 points. South Korea’s Jihyeon Keum and Hajun Park came second with 631.4 points, followed by Kazakhstan’s Alexandra Le and Islam Satpayev (630.8), and Germany’s Anna Janssen and Maximilian Ulbrich (629.7).

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Ramita and Babuta did not perform poorly, but the event demanded near-perfect precision. The Chinese team consistently scored high, with Sheng hitting 10.5 or more 18 times out of 30 shots and Huang achieving 10.5 or more 22 times. The result was a setback for India's medal hopes, especially as the rifle shooters had been in excellent form leading up to the Games. The same shooters will compete in individual qualifications on Sunday, where they need to overcome their disappointment and aim for high scores in another intense competition.

China claims first Gold

China’s Sheng Lihao and Huang Yuting won the first gold medal of the Olympics by defeating South Korea’s Keum Ji-hyeon and Park Ha-jun in the final, scoring 16-12. Sheng, a silver medalist in the individual 10m air rifle at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and Huang, a two-time gold medalist at the 2022 World Championships, showcased their excellence. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan’s Alexandra Le and Islam Satpayev won the bronze by defeating Germany’s Maximilian Ulbrich and Anna Janssen with a score of 17-5, despite being the underdogs.