Swapnil Kusale

Indian sport shooter (born 1987)

Swapnil Kusale
Kusale in August 2024
Personal information
NationalityIndian
Born (1995-08-06) 6 August 1995 (age 29)[1]
Kambalwadi, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India[2]
Years active2012–present
Sport
SportShooting
Coached byDeepali Deshpande
Medal record
Men's shooting
Representing  India
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 0 0 1
World Shooting Championships 0 0 1
World Cup 1 0 0
Asian Games 1 0 0
Asian Shooting Championships 1 1 0
Commonwealth Championships 0 0 1
Total 3 1 3
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2024 Paris 50 m rifle 3 positions
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Cairo 50 m rifle 3 positions team
World Cup
Gold medal – first place 2021 New Delhi 50 m rifle 3 positions team
Asian Games
Gold medal – first place 2022 Hangzhou 50 m rifle 3 positions team
Asian Shooting Championships
Silver medal – second place 2023 Changwon 50 m rifle 3 positions team
Asian Rifle/Pistol Championships
Gold medal – first place 2024 Jakarta 50 m rifle 3 positions team
Commonwealth Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2017 Brisbane 50 m rifle prone

Swapnil Kusale (born 6 August 1995)[3] is an Indian sport shooter who competes in 50 metre rifle three positions. He won the bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the men's 50 metre rifle three positions event.[4]

Early life

Kusale was born on 6 August 1995, in Kambalwadi village in Kolhapur district.[2] In 2009, his father enrolled him into Maharashtra government's Krida Prabhodini sports programme. After one year of intense physical training, Kusale had to choose one sport and ended up choosing shooting.[5] In 2015, he became a ticket collector for the Indian Railways in Pune, which helped him buy his first rifle.[6]

Shooting career

In 2015, he won gold in 50m rifle prone 3 in the junior category in 2015 Asian Shooting Championships in Kuwait.[7] In the same year, he also won the 59th National Shooting Championship held in Tughlakabad ahead of Gagan Narang and Chain Singh in 50m rifle prone event.[8] In 2017, he repeated the same performance in 61st National Championship in Thiruvananthapuram by winning a gold in 50m rifle 3 position.[9]

In October 2022, he earned an Olympic quota berth for India in the men's 50-metre rifle 3 position event with a fourth place finish at the 2022 ISSF World Shooting Championships in Cairo.[10] In May 2024, he was selected in the Indian Olympic team in the 50m rifle 3 positions event after the trials in Delhi and Bhopal.[11] Despite finishing 5th in the final trial, Kusale was selected in the team as the second shooter based on his scores in the first three trials.[11][12]

At the 2024 Olympics, Kusale became the first Indian to qualify for the final of the men's 50 metre rifle three positions event,[13] and won the bronze medal with a score of 451.4 in the final.[4]

Career outside shooting

He joined joined Central Railway in 2015 as a Travelling Ticket Examiner(TTE). He was requesting for a promotion for years. Post his Bronze-medal winning achievement, he was given a double promotion and has been promoted to the post of Officer on Special Duty (OSD), Sports Cell in Mumbai.

References

  1. ^ "Swapnil KUSALE". ISSF. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  2. ^ a b Mangale, Kalyani (19 July 2024). "Kusale primed for Olympic debut". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  3. ^ Iyer, Rahul (1 September 2024). "Swapnil Kusale: India's First Olympic Medalist in 50m Rifle Shooting". Leader Biography. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Swapnil Kusale earns third bronze medal for India in shooting". The Hindu. 1 August 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  5. ^ "From rural obscurity to National champion: Meet Swapnil Kusale, India's 20-year old shooting prodigy". sportskeeda.com. 11 January 2016.
  6. ^ "Ticket collector from Pune, Swapnil Kusale wins India's third shooting bronze at Paris Olympics". The Indian Express. 1 August 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  7. ^ Srinivasan, Kamesh (10 November 2015). "Kusale wins junior Asian shooting championship". The Hindu – via thehindu.com.
  8. ^ Srinivasan, Kamesh (6 December 2015). "Swapnil Kusale shoots to gold in 50-metre rifle event". Sportstar.
  9. ^ "Swapnil regains lost crown at National Shooting Championship". The Times of India. 25 December 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  10. ^ Sportstar, Team (24 October 2022). "Paris 2024: Full list of Olympics quota winners from India in shooting". Sportstar. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  11. ^ a b Staff, Scroll (17 May 2024). "Shooting, Olympic Trials: Anjum Moudgil, Sift Samra, Aishwary Tomar, Swapnil Kusale book Paris berth". Scroll.in. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  12. ^ Srinivasan, Kamesh (17 May 2024). "Olympic Selection Trials: Aishwary Pratap tops men's rifle three-position, Manu Bhaker beats Esha Singh in air pistol event". Sportstar. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  13. ^ "Swapnil Kusale makes 3-position final, hopes to undo debacle of last year's Asian Games". ESPN. 31 July 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.