Chateauroux (France), Aug 1 (PTI) Swapnil Kusale doesn’t quite know just why it has taken so long for him to be at the Olympics, where he landed a medal on debut on Thursday.
A medal that is definitely life-changing for him personally but also historic in significance for Indian shooting given that it’s the first time that a rifle shooter has managed to do it in the physically draining 50m 3 positions event.
Ask him why it took him so long to arrive, he was as candid as one can be.
“May be I was not as strong mentally,” says the 28-year-old son of a teacher father and sarpanch mother from Kambalwadi village near Maharashtra’s Kolhapur.
Kusale began shooting in 2009, made his international debut in 2012 but it took him another 12 years to make his Olympic debut.
The 50m rifle shooter was not in the scheme of things in Rio 2016 and missed out on a Tokyo 2020 berth narrowly as per the then selection criteria which gave more importance to performance in international events.
He did not leave anything to chance for the Paris Games. He secured a quota place for India with a fourth place finish in the 50m rifle three positions at 2022 World Championships before maintaining the consistency in the domestic trials in March and April earlier this year.
Expectations were higher from the much younger Aishwary Pratap Tomar in the 50m rifle three positions but it was Kusale who made history by becoming the first finalist from India in the event.
Despite feeling the butterflies in the stomach on the morning of the final, Kusale was able to control his emotions to land a historic bronze.
“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,” said Kusale, a ticket collector with Indian Railways who doesn’t have to report for duty because of his shooting commitments.
An opening shot of 9.6 showed that the nerves were indeed there but he regained focus to produce a highly consistent show in kneeling, prone and standing position.
His four 9s came in kneeling and standing while he came up with higher 10s regularly in the prone position. However, it was the high 10s in the standing position that pushed him into medal reckoning.
National coach Manoj Kumar said Kusale’s bronze was a result of razor sharp focus over the last three months.
“It may not seem that way on the outside but we always knew that Swapnil could get us a medal. After the final, we had a long chat about how to maintain focus while shooting. I asked him to read Gita and that also helped him immensely,” said Manoj.
During the high-pressure final, Kusale made a conscious effort to not pay attention to the scores and just wanted to worry about his breathing and shooting.
“To be honest I did not see the scoreboard. It was my years of hardwork and that is what I kept in mind while shooting.
“I was listening to the announcements of scores but was ignoring it. I just wanted the Indian supporters to keep cheering for me.” Haven’t spoken to family yet ================== He also gave due credit to his parents, including his sarpanch mother and personal coach Deepali Deshpande “I am yet to speak to the sarpanch (he laughs). And what do I say about Deepali mam? She is like second mother to me,” said an emotional Kusale.
He also made a promised to himself before the Olympics, which he was not able to fulfill despite an unexpected medal.
Kusale did not divulge the details of the promise but he is not going to settle for anything less than gold going forward.
“The promise has not been fulfilled,” he said.
After an outcome that is desired by every Olympian, Kusale has also etched his name in the history books of Indian sport, much like his role model Mahendra Singh Dhoni who like the shooter was a railway ticket collector early in his career.
On Thursday, Kusale made both Dhoni and India proud. PTI BS PM PM PM
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