Changwon, 12 Jul: Up against an Olympic silver medallist in a World Cup final, young Indian shooter Arjun Babuta had his task cut out. But neither the occasion nor the opponent could affect him.
Instead, Babuta came up with a stunning performance against Tokyo Olympics silver winner Lucas Kozeniesky to win the men’s 10m air rifle event in the ongoing ISSF World Cup in Changwon on Monday.
In a tense final that saw a series of 10s from both him and Kozeniesky, it was the former who emerged victorious, humbling the American 17-9.
“Ideally, I should have felt the pressure of facing Lucas and could have got carried away by the occasion but I stayed calm and did not let any burden upon me which helped in winning the gold,” Arjun told Sportsflashes Radio.
While a strong 32-member Indian squad is currently taking part in the World Cup, the sport, however, will not be part of the upcoming Commo-nwealth Games in Birmingham.
The 23-year-old shooter from Punjab expressed his disappointment and said that the sport’s exclusion from the CWG will rob many Indian shooters of a chance to win medals.
“I am very heartbroken due to the shooting’s omission from CWG. As a budding shooter, I thought CWG experience would be very useful to me and I could have ended up on the podium as well. But this is part of the destiny and I hope they include shooting next time,” Arjun said. (PTI)