ISSF World Cup: Arjun Babuta's story is lot more than fourth-place finish at Paris Olympics

Arjun Babuta's story is lot more than fourth-place finish at Paris Olympics (Instagram)

India secured six medals at the Paris Olympics, one less than the previous edition held in Tokyo where the country had bagged seven, including a gold. However, what was even more heart-wrenching was that the medal tally could have been a lot higher if not for the fourth-place finishes. India registered six fourth-placed finishes in Paris, with athletes coming within touching distance of a medal but had to return empty-handed.

India shooter Arjun Babuta was among the six as he finished fourth in the men’s 10m air rifle final, losing the bronze medal to Croatia's Miran Maričić. The setback is now a few months old and Arjun is all set for a fresh start in the season-ending ISSF World Cup Final in New Delhi, his first tournament since the Paris heartbreak. A feeling as heavy as missing an Olympic medal is difficult to cope with and the 25-year-old was left completely shattered, which is understandable. This was Arjun's first Olympic and the shooter, who hails from Mohali, asserted he was not there to get the experience but to win a medal. He, however, wishes to draw motivation from the experience.

"Initially I didn't know how to feel about it. I was confused emotionally and I was very disheartened because I put in a lot of effort. I was so close and yet too far from winning a medal and it shattered me completely for a while. I tried to be normal, didn't know what to say to people or how to react to it, but now I am getting that clarity. We don't move on from such things, but we get to learn to live with it. So I have learned that somewhere it is motivating me to perform better in the future," was Arjun's opening remark in an exclusive chat with moneycontrol.com ahead of the shooting World Cup in the capital.

Arjun only started his preparation for the World Cup on October 1, a little less than two weeks ahead of the event. Despite this he is brimming with confidence as he once again takes centerstage against the same competitors who were there in the Olympics. "I want to experiment a few things and this (World Cup) is a good opportunity for me to try all those things," reflects the shooter on his target at the event, which starts from October 13 to 18 at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range.

Shooting as we know is a sport of precision, and mental toughness, where even the barest margin has an immense impact on the outcome. So to maintain his composure in an intense atmosphere, Arjun practices meditation, OM chanting, and breathing exercises. "In every challenging situation, we tend to lose our sense of being in the present. So I try to be in the present by focusing on my breath and being aware of my surroundings. Earlier, I used to run away from all those thoughts but in the last few years, I started to face it with a lot of courage, which is the most important thing that helps us stay focused.

"Everything is not in my control, results are not in my control. What is in my control is my process. I tried a lot of things and I found an ideal way for me. So I start my day with meditation and walking, which gives me a sense of good vibration. I try OM chanting and a lot of breathing exercises in the morning and then I get ready and go to the shooting range."

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Daily routine: Meditation, OM chanting, morning walks

Arjun has been training at the Karni Singh range since 2021 and stays in the hostel inside the premise. He starts the day around 5:30 in the morning, after which he goes to the shotgun range to meditate. "It's overall green, a lot of scenic views, you can see the sunrise and I feel very positive about it," said Arjun.

Arjun then arrives at the rifle shooting range, somewhere around 8 am after having breakfast and begins training at 9 am. "So that one hour is just warm up, mental rehearsal, and unpacking my stuff. Then around three to four hours of shooting practice approximately," he added.

The shooter is equally occupied post-lunch, which includes a psychology session around 2 pm, and an hour and a half of physical workout session around 5 pm. He ends the day by writing notes in his journal.

PM Modi poses for a photo with the Olympians (Instagram)

Financial burden biggest motivation

Shooting is an expensive sport as a rifle can easily shell out around four lakh rupees from your account. The sport also involves additional gear such as a shooting jacket, shooting trousers, pair of shooting shoes, and shooting stand, taking the total to around six lakhs in the initial stage of 10m rifle shooting. Arjun, who hails Abhinav Bindra, India's first individual Olympic gold medallist, as his idol, was inspired to take the sport at a young age between 12 and 13. However, he had given up the thought of pursuing it, owing to his middle-class background. "Even one lakh rupee was like a huge amount for me back then, because it is a huge amount," he said.

It was his father, who insisted on shooting and bought him a secondhand rifle and the whole kit. "It didn't help because all our kits are customized. The weapon didn't work, it was faulty. I had to buy everything new and suddenly my performance rose to a different level because previously the equipment was bad. I started performing instantly and I'm thankful for that."

The huge investment by his father also motivated Arjun to deliver. As a rookie, Arjun began practicing in a street close to his house in Mohali due to a lack of facilities. "There was no shooting range near my house so I used to put a target on the wall at the street and shoot at from 10-meter distance. Few people used to mock me, few praised, but my motivation was that I had to pay back. And I used to balance my studies because I wanted to be an IAS, IPS officer. I was focusing on my studies but then I dwelled into the shooting game a lot, which improved my performance. So both my parents said that I can prioritize shooting, that also really motivated me to focus more on shooting.

"I didn't take any break for nine to ten years, I would say. I took my first break in 2019 when a back injury happened. I used to go to the shooting range in the morning around 6 am and was the last person to close the range, literally shut the range around 7.30 pm. So, things were extremely hard and intense and slowly I started to discover everything on my own. There was a lack of knowledge and guidance but I used to look at other shooters, I used to watch YouTube videos of a lot of big names and that helped me to get an idea about shooting postures, how I can set my rifle in a way that that can benefit me. I started observing a lot, so that developed a habit in me to observe things and it changed my life completely."

Arjun was roped in by OGQ (Olympic Gold Quest), his first sponsor, in 2017 and things have since been smooth for the 25-year-old.