Paris: In a third medal for India in the Paris Olympics, Shooter Swapnil Kusale has clinched the bronze medal. The ace shooter has brought a medal in the 50m Rifle event. This is India’s third medal in shooting as earlier shooters Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh brought laurels to the nation by clinching the bronze medal in Air pistol events.
With bronze medal in Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event at the Paris Olympics, here on Thursday. Swapnil has become the first Indian shooter to bag a medal in this event at the quadrennial extravaganza. Kusale scored a total of 451.4 points in the eight-man final for a third-place podium finish. Liu Yukun of China clinched the gold with a total of 463.6. Ukraine’s Serhiy Kulish scored 461.3 and claimed the silver medal.
Overall, this is India’s third medal at the Paris Olympics. Earlier, Manu Bhaker won two bronze medals in the women’s 10m Air Pistol and 10m Air Pistol Mixed team event with Sarabjot Singh. After the end of the kneeling and prone rounds, Kusale was ranked fifth with a score of 310.1. In the standing position, an elimination round, the Indian was consistently placed in the top four and eventually sealed a bronze medal finish.
The 28-year-old Kusale, who is Asian Games gold medallist in the team event, was the first-ever Indian to qualify for the final of the men’s 50m rifle 3 position. Swapnil finished seventh in the qualification round on Wednesday with a score of 590-38x.