After 9 Years of Pleas, Swapnil Kusale Receives Double Promotion From Railways (image-X/thebharatarmy)
After bagging the bronze medal for India at the Paris Olympics 2024, taking the number of medals to three for the country, Swapnil Kusale has also received a double promotion in the Central Railways.
Kusale has been working with Railways since 2015 as a travelling ticket examiner (TTE). Over the past nine years, he has made multiple pleas for a promotion. However, as his coach Deepali Deshpande told the Times of India, he was “never considered” for promotion even once. Deshpande also added that Kusale was “very disappointed by the attitude of his office,” quoted TOI.
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One of Kusale’s colleagues at the railways said, “Whenever Swapnil asked about his promotion, he got rude replies, and that hurt him more,” quoted TOI.
After the Kolhapur shooter won the bronze medal in the 50m rifle 3 position event on Thursday, the Central Railway promoted him as Officer on Special Duty in sports cell.
Central Railway honours it’s Olympic medalist Mr Swapnil Kusale. In an apt recognition to his achievement in the Paris Olympics he has been promoted as Officer on Special Duty in sports cell.
Best wishes for the new role, champion. 🥉💐 pic.twitter.com/LPURPyox2p— Central Railway (@Central_Railway) August 1, 2024
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Several netizens pointed out the timing of the double promotion. “Hmmm. What about the railway officers who were putting pressure on him before he became champion? This is your respect for sportsmen?” asked one X user. Echoing a similar sentiment, another user asked, “And how many years did you make him beg for it.”
Kusale scored a total of 451.4 to finish behind eventual gold medallist Yukun Liu from China and Serhiy Kulish who clinched the silver. Incidentally, he was the lone among the eight shooters to not record a perfect series of 100 in the qualifiers, shooting three 99s and two 98s. He, however, became the first-ever Indian to qualify in the final of the event.
