Shooter Arnab secures direct entry to Youth Olympic Games

Arnab Sharar Ladif achieved a rare feat in the country's shooting arena by securing direct entry to the next year's Youth Olympic Games after the Bangladesh shooter won silver medal in the youth category of the men's 10m air-rifle event in the 10th Asian Airgun Championship in Japan's Wako City Saturday. Arnab went agonisingly close to gold as the BKSP 11th grade student fell only 0.5 point short of the top-placed Chinese shooter Zhang Changhong. His improved performance at the late stage of the game earned him 249.5 points. Indian shooter Tushar Shahu finished third with 228.2 points. Earlier, the 16-year-old shooter was placed sixth out of 34 participants in the qualification round, scoring a total of 620.9 points, which lifted him to the final round comprising the top eight young Asian shooters. Having been guided by Danish coach Klavs Christensen for more than a year, Arnab's achievement is Bangladesh's best result so far in the tournament. It also earned Arnab his first-ever place in the Youth Olympic Games, scheduled to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina from October 6-18 next year. Meanwhile, Syeda Atkia Hasan Disha failed to perform upto expectation as she scored 404.9 points to finish 20th in the women's junior category of the 10-m air-rifle event.