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Swapnil Kushale became the first Indian to win an Olympic medal in the rifle 50m 3-position event as the Maharashtra shooter clinched bronze in the final that took place at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in Paris on Wednesday. (Olympics Full Coverage | More Sports Stories)
Kusale's exceptional effort saw him finish with a score of 451.4 and seal third position and a bronze medal in the event. It is India's third medal in the ongoing Summer Games with all three of them coming from shooting.
Incidentally, India had not been able to win a single medal in shooting since 2012 London Games and now they have won three in this edition with some events yet to take place.
Kusale, who had finished a heart-breaking fourth in the Hangzhou Asian Games, kept his composure throughout the match even as for a long time he was outside the medal zone.
The 50m rifle 3P events consists of shooting in three positions: kneeling, prone and standing. Kusale started slow in the kneeling series and finished sixth among the eight competitors with a score of 153.3. His slow climb began in the prone position where some consistent shooting took him to the fifth position.
Kusale switched gears in the standing series. In the first round of five shots only the eventual gold medalist Yukun Liu of China had a better score in the standing position. Kusale's consistency was further rewarded by some poor shots from the leader till the kneel and prone positions, Norway's Jon-Hermann Hegg. The Norwegian fell so sharply in the standing series that despite leading in the other two positions, he finished fifth.
This helped Kusale move into the third position which he maintained in the elimination round.
Jiri Privratsky from Ukraine settled for silver as China's Liu, who is also the world record holder in the 50m 3P rifle shooting, won the gold.
"Today the heartbeat was on the higher side. I just tried to control my breathing and did not try anything different. Everyone is more or less the same at this level," Kusale said after winning the medal.
