In a statement-making performance, India’s Arya Borse and Arjun Babuta shocked the shooting world by defeating China’s reigning Olympic and World Champions, Sheng Lihao and Wang Zifei, with a commanding 17-7 win in the final of 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team at the ISSF World Cup in Munich, Germany.
The Indian pair dismantled the heavily favored Chinese duo — widely regarded as the strongest team in the field — in a one-sided gold medal match that underlined India’s growing dominance in international shooting. From the very first series, Borse and Babuta were locked in and unrelenting, refusing to give China even a glimmer of hope.
Their stunning victory was made even more impressive by the fact that China had equaled the world record in the qualification round with a score of 635.9. India, close behind with 635.2, showed no signs of being overawed by the opposition or the occasion.
This marks Arya Borse’s second podium finish of the season in the mixed team event, having won silver earlier this year in Lima alongside Rudrankksh Patil. Her partnership with Babuta proved lethal in Munich, combining precision with poise under pressure.
The other Indian team in the competition, featuring Elavenil Valarivan and Ankush Jadhav, posted a respectable score of 631.8 in qualification but finished sixth overall.
In the bronze medal match, Norway’s Jeanette Hegg Duestad and Jon-Hermann Hegg edged out the American team of Sagen Maddalena and Peter Fiori, 16-14, in a tense battle.
This gold adds to India’s growing medal tally in Munich — now at four, including two golds and two bronzes. Suruchi Singh claimed the first gold earlier this week, while Sift Kaur Samra and Elavenil Valarivan contributed individual bronze medals.