Arjun Babuta finished fourth, the most heartbreaking position, in the men's air rifle Paris Olympics final, after being in medal contention throughout the final. But one bad shot - 9.5 on the bronze medal-deciding shot - cost him that medal. The pressure of the occasion got to him at the worst possible time.
It's a result that can crush the best of athletes. Seen from another view, though, Babuta making the Olympics in itself is an achievement. Because six years back, doctors had told him he'd never be able to pick up his gun again.
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Babuta (25), based in Chandigarh, suffered a lower back injury, mainly due to overtraining at a young age and putting too much pressure on his back. He once fell at the shooting range and had to be rushed to hospital.
"In about 2018, I was facing several health issues and went to a lot of doctors because I started falling while shooting. My lower body used to collapse when I took aim with my rifle and kit on," Babuta told ESPN before the Paris Olympics.
"I was young [19] when selected for the senior team in 2018 and I was doing really well but I started training a lot and I didn't focus on my rest and recovery. There was nobody to guide me and I think lack of knowledge and guidance was one aspect that led to that injury," he said.
Things came to a head when he suddenly fell while training at the Gun for Glory shooting academy in Chennai with his coach Deepali Deshpande. "They took me to the hospital and got tests done. From there my rehab journey started. I went to a lot of physios, a lot of doctors all over India and few of them told me that you are not going to shoot anymore, you can't."
But Babuta didn't want to quit. He was so eager to return that he went to whichever place people suggested, including a masseur on the streets, to recover and ultimately ended up making things worse in his eagerness.
Eventually a doctor from nearby Patiala assured him his injury could be healed. "I used to travel to Patiala from Chandigarh daily with my mother. The rehab went on for 5-6 months in 2019 because of which I couldn't get selected for the Tokyo Olympics (initially). I was devastated I missed even after maintaining my post position in the chart."
That turned out to be a good thing as he could rebuild his physical strength in the time away, including the pandemic-enforced break. Unlike most other shooters before Tokyo, the lockdown helped Babuta reach his peak, even setting up a range at home.
In the last three years, he has built up with good scores and not faced a recurrence of the injury. He was the second-best Indian shooter in the Olympic Selection Trials, ahead of former world champion Rudrankksh Patil and Tokyo Olympian Divyansh Singh Panwar and made the team for Paris.
He will be scarred from his outing in Paris - missing the mixed team medal matches on the first day of competition, coming back the next day to qualify for the air rifle final and then missing the podium by the narrowest of margins.
But his personal experience has shown he can deal with these setbacks and return stronger.