Arjun Babuta, Paarth Makhija make Men's 10m Air Rifle top eight stage at Changwon Shooting World Cup

New Delhi, July 10 (IANS) Two Indian shooters Arjun Babuta and Paarth Makhija have qualified for the top eight final stage of the Men's 10m Air Rifle competition in the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun in Changwon, Korea.Arjun shot a quality 630.5 in the 60-shot qualification stage to finish second in the 53-strong field. Paarth on the other hand finished fifth with a score of 628.4. The finals are slated for Monday.The third Indian shooter in the mix, Shahu Tushar Mane shot a score of 624.4 to finish in 30th spot. Veteran Israeli Air Rifle exponent Sergey Richter topped the field with a 631.6. Shooters from Australia, Austria, Korea, Thailand and the USA claimed the other five qualifying spots, prominent among them being Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Lucas Kozeniesky of the US.Indian shooters faced disappointment in the Women's 10m Air Rifle however with none making the grade. Mehuli Ghosh came closest, losing out on a qualifying spot by just 0.1 points. She shot 628.7 to finish 11th in the field. Given that among the top finishers were two shooters not competing for medals, the 10th placed Hungarian Eszter Meszaros claimed the eighth and final qualifying spot with a score of 628.8.Senior India debutant Ramita shot 627.4 to finish 17th while former world number one and Olympian Elavenil Valarivan finished 24th with 626.3.Monday has a packed schedule with Trap and Air Pistol qualifications getting underway along with the two Air Rifle finals.India has fielded a 32-strong squad in the Changwon World Cup which has more than 430 athletes from 44 nations competing. The World Cup ends on July 21 with 30 gold medals on the roster.

--IANScs/inj

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