Agony was writ large on the face of Arjun Babuta after the Indian shooter missed an Olympic medal by a whisker despite being in the top-three for the majority of men's 10m air rifle final on Monday. (Highlights | Full Olympics Coverage | More Sports News)
Th▨e look of despair on Arjun's face was understandable as the shooter🌼 from Fazilka was in the top-three till the 18th shot of the 24-shot final before a 9.5 on his 20th attempt led to his elimination from the medal race.
The Indian showed very ღlittle signs of nerves before faltering at the business end of the final. A 10.1 on the 18th shot saw him slip to fourth from second a🤡nd he could not bounce back from there on.
Abhinav Bindra, India's 𝔍sole Olympic gold medal-winning shooter, too had come fourth in R🌠io 2016 in the same event where Arjun suffered a sudden heartbreak.
Having been there, Bindra was among the first ones to console ꦐa crestfallen Arjun after the disappointment.
"He told me that fourth place will make me stron𒁏ger and that it was important to move on. Whet🌱her you laugh it off or do something else, he told me to take it with a smile and move," said Babuta, who did well to regain his composure and speak to the travelling Indian media.