Indian shooter Swapnil Kusale made history on Thursday by winning the bronze medal in the men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Shooting competition. This marks India’s first-ever Olympic medal in the 50m 3P event and only the second medal in rifle shooting after Abhinav Bindra’s gold in the men’s 10m air rifle at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Competing at the National Shooting Centre in Châteauroux, Kusale was in sixth place with a score of 153.3 after the first 15 shots. However, the 28-year-old shooter displayed remarkable consistency in the prone position and in standing, moving up to third place by the end of Stage 1, which saw the elimination of the bottom two shooters. In Stage 2, with eliminations after each shot, Kusale scored 10.5, 9.4, and 9.9 in his next three shots, securing his position in the top three and confirming a medal for India. Despite scoring 10.0 in his next shot, it wasn’t enough to keep him in the race for gold.
Paris Olympics
The gold medal in the event was claimed by Liu Yukun of the People’s Republic of China, who set a new world record with a score of 463.6 points. Ukraine’s Serhiy Kulish won the silver medal with a score of 461.3, adding to his previous silver from the Rio 2016 Olympics. Kusale finished with a total of 451.4 points.
Swapnil Kusale
Kusale had earlier qualified for the final in seventh place with a total score of 590 in the qualifiers on Wednesday. Fellow Indian shooter Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar narrowly missed out on the final, finishing in eighth place.
With this achievement, India has now secured three medals in shooting at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Before Kusale’s bronze, Manu Bhaker won a bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol individual event, followed by another bronze in the 10m air pistol mixed team event with Sarabjot Singh.
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