At the shooting ranges, Swapnil Kusale recedes into a cocoon and blocks himself off from the noise. On Thursday, when the shooting final was on at the Chateauroux shooting centre, Swapnil shut himself from the outside world.
The competition was intense and Swapnil was see-sawing; sixth, fourth, third, second and third in the 50 m rifle 3-position final. There is no place for emotion in shooting. The heart needs to keep still and that’s what Swapnil did while securing India one more bronze at the Olympics. He was hearing the PA system but did not pay heed to where he was positioned.
The fifty-odd Indian supporters were cheering him on. “I did not pay attention to what the MC was saying. But I could hear the Indian fans shouting and I shifted my attention to that. And I said I don’t want to disappoint them. I will have to win for them,” he said after the bronze. This is India’s first 3-position medal in the Olympics.
A ticket collector in Indian Railways, Swapnil had a humble beginning. Hailing from a village 30 km away from the district of Kolhapur (Maharashtra), his journey took him from a nondescript village to global glory.
Soon after Swapnil’s medal, though, heart-breaks followed. Three, in fact. Before the Games began, three of India’s biggest medal hopes were Sift Kumar Samra (women’s 50 m rifle 3-position), Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty (men’s doubles badminton), P V Sindhu (singles badminton) and Nikhat Zareen (women’s 50 kg boxing). All four failed to progress on a largely disappointing day.