CHENNAI: Indian shooter Swapnil Kusale managed to dodge the Covid-19 virus almost for two years but contracted the fearful disease this January. The shooter from Maharashtra served 10-day isolation before getting back in the shooting range but the illness left him physically weak. Given his discipline — rifle 3 positions where a shooter shoots in kneeling, prone and standing positions — the 27-year-old needed to resolve the back problem he was facing since he got infected, as soon as possible.
With the 2024 Olympic qualifiers beginning this year, Swapnil immediately met a physiotherapist and started working on the issue. The one-hour exercises he did every day to fix his back issue for the past several months bore fruit as he bagged the third Paris Olympics quota place in the sport by finishing fourth in the men’s 50m rifle 3p final at the ISSF World Championships in Cairo, Egypt, on Saturday.
"Regaining physical fitness was the biggest task, especially the back problem as it was affecting my show in standing position," Swapnil told this daily from Cairo. "I was in Pune and got out to buy some essential commodities when I contracted Covid. Unlike in the past, the isolation period was not an issue but regaining full fitness demanded a strict regimen," he added. Hailing from Kambalwadi village, around 250km from Pune, Swapnil had undergone a 14-day quarantine period twice in 2020.
The first quota was won by Bhowneesh Mendiratta in the men's trap shooting event and the second was claimed by Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil in the 10m air rifle event where he won the gold medal.
Earlier, Swapnil shot a qualification score of 593 to qualify for the eight-shooter final in second after China’s Liu Yukun’s 596. He was at the top of the standings after the kneeling stage with a score of 104.8 but slipped to third at the end of the prone stage with his total being 207.9. He, in fact, was in contention to make it to the gold-medal match too but a low 8.2 in his final shot in the eighth series during the standing stage meant Norway’s Jon-Hermann Hegg pipped him for bronze with a 10.1. His aggregate score was 407.6 while Hegg finished with 407.9. Serhiy Kulish of Ukraine won gold while Pole Tomasz Bartnik finished second to bag silver.
Speaking on the shot, which deprived him of a medal, Swapnil said, "No gun malfunction but apparently I delayed the shot, which cost me the medal." He is happy to earn a quota but affirmed that was not in his mind when he was competing.
He also took part at the recently-concluded National Games in Gujarat. He might not have won a medal there as he finished fourth but claimed the competition had prepared him well. "It was nice to get a competition ahead of the Olympic qualifying event. I may not have won the medal but the event helped me know the flaws I needed to iron out before leaving for Cairo."
The shooters had a camp at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi from October 5 before flying for the international event. "Camp gave me an opportunity to work on my shortcomings. It helped me a lot here. I am now focusing on team and mixed-team events. I hope to finish on the podium there," the shooter signed off.