PARIS: Kambalwadi village in Radhanagari Tehsil is some 30km away from Kolhapur. There are about 200 households in the 237-hectare place. It is just a speck in the district’s map. It has a total population of about 987 people (according to 2011 census). Out of that 478 are female and 509 are male. Among those 500-odd males is one Swapnil Kusale, the one who gave a new identity to the place. The shooter bagged bronze for the country at the grandest of stages – the Paris 2024 Olympics. If someone has not heard about the village until now they will.
A thousand kilometres away, tucked away in the tranquil countryside of France at Chateauroux, a shooter from that nondescript village etched his name among the shooting greats of the country. After Manu Bhaker’s air pistol and team along with Sarabjot Singh bronze medals – this is India’s third medal. He became the first Indian shooter to reach the final in 3-position and the first to win a medal. This is the best-ever medal haul from shooting in one event.
For a shooter who did not have his own rifle at one point a medal is more than just a surreal journey. It’s a result of the collective belief of his family, coaches and all those who backed him. The 28-year-old was on his debut Olympics and was playing second fiddle to more established 3-position shooter Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar.
Swapnil barely scraped through to the final finishing in the top eight during the qualifications at seventh place on Wednesday. When he came back on Thursday garbed in a shroud of invincibility at the same shooting ranges there was a complete transformation. He started shooting, kneeling, prone and standing in 50m three position (3P) there was silence within him.
When the bullets died down in staccato, he stood there with raising fists. Shooters are not known for theatrical celebrations. Blame it on controlling the adrenaline to steady the heart or their intense concentration to keep their hands still, their reactions remain muted. On Thursday, he was oblivious about his surroundings too. Considered a reticent person and a man of few words, Kusale said he was just concentrating on his shots; not even listening to what was being hollered in the PA system at range; even when he was fifth and then second, third, fourth, and back to third in the rollercoaster of a final.
“Heartbeat sabki badhti hai (everyone's heartbeat goes through roofs) and I was just focussing on my breath and tried to keep and shoot,” he said in the mixed zone. Going into the final he had nothing to lose. There were pangs of nervousness and butterflies in his stomach before the final and did not eat much. He loves tea and had some black tea before the event. He finished fourth at the World Championships in 2022 where he also bagged India the all-important quota.
“I didn’t have anything (medal prospect) in my mind,” he said. “All my hard work over the years, I just kept that in mind and shot, and didn’t focus on the scores. I could hear the scores but did not pay heed to it.” All he wanted to hear was the chants of the supporters who assembled in the faraway venue. “I just wanted to hear more from the supporters behind me and wanted to see them happy, so that kept me going.”
Kusale attributed his rise to coach Deepali Deshpande’s training. His career was shaped by the coach who he met after shifting to Pune. Then the duo collaborated into many successful chases. Since he started shooting in 2012 and was having too many fourth finishes. He felt that was because of a lack of experience and a strong will. “I was mentally fragile maybe,” he would say. “Deepali mam really helped me and that changed my career.”
Born into a teacher’s family, Kusale and his brother were raised with a lot of discipline by his parents Suresh and Anita. A modest salary was not enough to support an expensive sport like shooting so there were occasional loans to fund his training and competition. His parents did not know anything about shooting all they had was faith in their son. They backed his passion.
His father enrolled him in Krida Prabodhini — a scheme by the Government of Maharashtra for athletes to prosper. He was there at Sangli for one year to get himself physically fit and then shifted to Nashik. His tryst with the sport was during the Youth Games when he watched shooting on TV. “I started to learn the sport,” he had said earlier. “My interest grew eventually and then I decided to take it up.” He was in 9th standard when he shifted to Nashik Krida Prabodhini to focus on shooting at Bhonsala Military School.
The Indian shooting contingent came back from two consecutive Olympic campaigns with empty hands. With Kusale's success in Paris, they have turned that disappointment into an unprecedented number of medals in one event with three medals in one event.