In a heart-break for millions of fans, India’s Arjun Babuta missed the podium spot at Paris 2024 as he finished at a mighty fourth position with a score of 208.4 in the Men’s 10m Air Rifle event on Monday.

The World Cup gold medallist was loitering in the top three spots during the early stages of the final. But he failed to hold on to his nerves, shooting a 9.9 in one of his Stage 2 shots, which allowed the eventual silver medallist Victor Lindgren of Sweden and Miran Maricic of Croatia to cut short the deficit.

The 25-year-old shot 10.5 in his final two shots which was not enough to remain in contention for the podium spot. As a result, Babuta bowed out of the event after clinching a fourth-place finish. He had qualified to the  Men’s 10m Air Rifle Final by finishing at the seventh position in the qualifying round.

Hailing from Chandigarh, Babuta had earned a quota for the Paris 2024, after clinching a silver in the 10m Air Rifle event at the 2003 Asian Shooting Championships in Changwon. He trains under former Indian Olympian and Asian Games silver medallist Deepali Deshpande.