In 2002, Babb was able to back up his feat from the Olympics when England hosted the Commonwealth Games at Manchester. There, he pocketed a silver medal in his signature event with a score of 699.0, losing the title to Australia's Timothy Lowndes by less than a point. Babb also teamed up with Neil Day to dominate the field in the rifle prone pairs, recording a first-place combined score at 1189 points. On that same season, Babb won his first ever individual gold at the ISSF World Cup meet in Milan, Italy with a brilliant 700.7, securing him an Olympic berth for Britain at his second Games.