Swapnil Kusale bagged a third bronze medal for India at Paris 2024 in the 50m rifle 3 position event on Thursday. The Kolhapur-shooter scored a total of 451.4 to finish behind eventual gold medallist Yukun Liu from China and Serhiy Kulish who clinched the silver.

After the kneeling stage, Kusale was placed in the sixth stage with a score of 153.3. However, he improvised his standings in the prone stage with a total score of 310.1 to be placed fifth. It also meant that there was only a 0.6-point difference between him and Kulish. He was able to cut short the deficit in the first five standing shots as he shot 51.1 to rise to the fourth spot, only 0.5 bereft of a podium finish.

Kusale qualified for the 50m Rifle 3Position event final after finishing seventh with a score of 590/600. 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.

The 28-year-old redeemed himself at the World stage after leading at the Asian Games from the onset before one shot dropped him to the fourth position. He had bagged a quota for India in this category before earning a place in the squad after his impressive performance in the trials.

This will be the most coveted possession in Kusale’s cabinet after he clinched a silver medal in the Asian Championship 2023, gold in the World Championship 2022, two gold medals in the World Cup, Changwon edition in 2022, and a gold in the World University Games, Chengdu in 2021.