Chateauroux (PTI): Indian shooter Arjun Babuta buckled under pressure and finished fourth in the men's 10m air rifle competition after coming close to winning a medal in his maiden Olympics here on Monday.

Babuta shot a total of 208.4.

A 9.5 in response to Croatia's Miran Maricic's 10.7 put paid to his hopes of finishing on the podium.

The 25-year-old Babuta started the final with a 10.7 and followed that with a 10.2.

A third shot of 10.5 saw him take the fourth spot while a 10.4 in his fourth attempt lifted him to the third spot. He finished the first series with a solid 10.6.

He started the second series with a 10.7, followed that with a 10.5 and shot a near-perfect 10.8 in the second shot of the first elimination series.

That effort propelled him into the second place while reducing the deficit between him and world record holder Chinese Sheng Lihao to 0.1 point.

However, he could not sustain the form and missed out on the medal.

Lihao claimed the top honours in this event with an Olympic record of 252.2. Sweden's Victor Lindgren took the silver medal with a score of 251.4, followed by Croatia's Miran Maricic (230) at the third spot.

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Kasaragod: The Government Medical College, which recently secured the National Medical Commission’s approval, admitted its first MBBS student on Monday, with Gurwinder Singh from Alwar in Rajasthan becoming the first of the 50 students in the inaugural batch of the College.

Singh received a warm welcome into the College with sweets by Principal-in-Charge Dr. KK Santosh Kumar and Medical Superintendent Dr Praveen. The admission procedure was formally completed with the recording of his attendance, reports On Manorama.

The College has seven seats reserved for candidates from the All-India rank list, and Singh qualified for a seat in the College under the All-India Medical Entrance quota.

Unlike the other government medical colleges in the state, where classes started this week after the admission of students during the first round of counseling, the Kasaragod Medical College had to wait for approval from the National Medical Commission. The College received the approval and began enrolling students after conclusion of counseling.

The classes will begin on September 30, after completion of Phase 2 of allotment. The first batch students are currently provided temporary hostel facilities at Cherkkala.

While the second student under the All-India rank list is expected to join the College today, the authorities have said they cannot guarantee how long the new students will remain, adding that some students may opt to move to other colleges if they are allotted seats there.