PARIS: Indian shooters are truly on a roll. After Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh, it was rifle shooter Swapnil Kusale who kept the Indian flag flying as he became the first Indian to enter the Olympics final in the men’s 50m rifle three positions at Chateauroux shooting ranges. Kusale scored a total of 590 including 38x in the three positions. He shot 99 & 99 in prone, 98 & 99 in standing before slipping a bit in kneeling as he ended with a score of 96 & 99. Overall, it put him in seventh place as the top-8 from a field of 44 shooters advanced to the final. There were three shooters with a total of 590 but the Indian floundered and Czech Republic’s Jiri Privratsky went ahead with their higher count of inner circles. Jiri’s teammate Petr Nybursky endured a heartbreak despite scoring 590.
The 29-year-old from Kolhapur has been on the international scene for the last 12 years and on Wednesday he made his Olympic debut a memorable one. The final will be a different ball game with scores being reset to zero and Swapnil, a Railway officer, has a big chance on Thursday to join the glittering list of Indian shooters with Olympic medals. If he wins, it will be the third medal for India in shooting, bettering the London harvest of two.
The second Indian in the fray Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, though, disappointed as he ended 11th with a total of 589 (33x). He fired 100 & 99 but paid the price for a poor 95 & 98 in standing position. Despite a superb comeback with 98 & a perfect score of 100, Tomar failed to make the final. The 23-year-old was rated ahead of Kusale after his superb show at the Asian Games and recent form, but on Wednesday he failed to make it count. China’s Yukun Liu topped the qualifying round with a new Olympic record score of 594.
