• Source:JND
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Paris Olympics 2024, Shooting: India's Swapnil Kusale scripted history as he bagged a bronze medal in the Men’s 50m rifle 3 positions event at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Thursday, August 1.

Kusale shot an aggregate of 451.4 in the eight-shooter final to finish third after being placed sixth at one stage.

Swapnil gave India its third medal at the ongoing Paris Games. Manu Bhaker had won bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol event before repeating the brilliance with another bronze in the 10m pistol mixed team event alongside Sarabjot Singh.

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The last time a 50m rifle shooter made it to the Olympic finals was in 2012 London when Joydeep Karmakar finished fourth in the 50m rifle prone event, a discipline which has been discontinued at the Olympics.

Notably, all of India's medals so far have come from the sport of shooting. This was India's first-ever Olympic medal in this event.

This is the first time India have won three shooting medals from a single edition of the Olympic Games.

Kusale had made it to the final after finishing seventh with 195 in standing after 197 in the prone and 198 in the kneeling rounds.

Talking about the thrilling final, Kusale was placed sixth at 153.3 at the end of the kneeling stage.

However, by the end of the prone stage, he jumped to the fifth spot with a total of 310.1. At this point, 0.6 was the difference between third-placed Serhiy Kulish of Ukraine and Kusale.

But in the first five standing shots, Kusale shot 51.1 to rise up to fourth spot, putting himself 0.4 away from the third spot.

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"I did not eat anything, was feeling the butterflies (in my stomach). Just had black tea and came here. The night before every match, I just pray to god," Kusale said after his monumental achievement.

"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," he added.

Swapnil finished behind China's Yukun Liu (463.6) and Ukraine's Serhiy Kulish (461.3).