Sports
Indian Shooter Wins Historic Bronze at Olympics
Indian shooter Swapnil Kusale won a bronze medal in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions final at the Olympics held on Thursday. This victory marks India’s first-ever Olympic shooting medal in the 50m 3P category.
Kusale’s achievement also adds to India’s medal tally in shooting, following the gold won by Abhinav Bindra in the men’s 10m air rifle at the Beijing 2008 Games and Gagan Narang’s bronze in the same event at the London 2012 Olympics.
Feeling overwhelmed with emotions, Kusale expressed, “This medal means a lot. It is not a gold, but I am pleased I got a medal. To get an Olympic medal is a dream.”
Competing at the National Shooting Center in Châteauroux, Kusale initially found himself in sixth place after the first 15 shots in kneeling positions. However, he improved his performance significantly in the prone and standing positions, climbing up to third place by the end of stage 1.
As the competition progressed, eliminations occurred after each shot in stage 2. Kusale maintained his place in the top three with scores of 10.5, 9.4, and 9.9. Although a shot of 10.0 in his final attempt wasn’t enough to secure gold, he secured a bronze medal comfortably.
The gold medal went to Liu Yukun from the People’s Republic of China, who set a new world record in the event with a score of 463.6. Ukraine’s Serhiy Kulish claimed the silver with a score of 461.3, marking his second Olympic medal.
Prior to Kusale’s final, he had advanced by finishing seventh in the qualifiers with a total score of 590, while fellow Indian shooter Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar unfortunately missed the cut.
So far, India has now won three medals at the Olympics, all in various shooting events. Before Kusale’s bronze, the Indian team had already secured a bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol individual event, along with another in the 10m air pistol mixed team event.
Later that same day, Indian shooters Anjum Moudgil and Sift Kaur Samra were unable to reach the finals in the women’s 50m rifle 3P event. Moudgil finished in 18th place with a score of 584, while Samra placed 31st with a score of 575.
