Chateauroux/Paris: Little-known shooter Swapnil Kusale kept a firm grip on his nerves despite a growling tummy and a racing heart to secure India’s first ever Olympic medal in the 50m rifle 3 positions event on a day when four strong podium contenders from the country, including the iconic P V Sindhu, were knocked out of the Games.
Kusale shot an aggregate of 451.4 in the eight-shooter final to finish third after being placed sixth at one stage.
It took the country’s overall tally to three, all bronze in shooting, and left it at the 42nd spot on the medal table.
His brilliant performance was followed by a spate of disappointments as two-time Olympic medallist shuttler Sindhu, two-time world champion boxer Nikhat Zareen (50kg), badminton’s celebrated men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, and promising rifle shooter Sift Kaur Samra made their way out of the event.
Lakshya Sen was the lone bright spot as he advanced to the quarterfinals at the expense of compatriot H S Prannoy in the men’s singles badminton event, holding out hope for a medal from the racquet sport.
The country could nonetheless celebrate thanks to Kusale’s medal, which came close on the heels of the stunning performance of Manu Bhaker, who clinched the women’s 10m air pistol and mixed team 10m air pistol bronze alongside Sarabjot Singh.
Their combined effort has ensured that India, for the first time in its Olympic history, has a haul of three medals from one single sport.
“I did not eat anything, was feeling the butterflies (in my stomach). Just had black tea and came here. The night before every match, I just pray to god,” Kusale said after his unprecedented achievement.
“Today the heartbeat was on the higher side. I just tried to control my breathing and did not try anything different,” he added.
Kusale, whose father and brother are teachers in a district school and his mother the sarpanch of Kambalwadi village near Kolhapur in Maharashtra, finished behind China’s Yukun Liu (463.6) and Ukraine’s Serhiy Kulish (461.3).
The last time a 50m rifle shooter made it to the Olympic finals was in 2012 London when Joydeep Karmakar finished fourth in 50m rifle prone event, which has been discontinued at the Games.
He was in the fourth place after the first standing series. Considered a high-scoring round, Kusale’s first shot of the final in kneeling was a lowly 9.6, but he made an excellent recovery after that.
A 10.6 and 10.3 saw Kusale jump momentarily into the second place. But a 9.1 and a 10.1 in his next attempts pushed him back to fourth.
However, a 10.3 propelled him to the third place and he maintained that position to win a medal.
However, Anjum Moudgil and Samra failed to qualify for the final of the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions event, finishing 18th and 31st respectively in the qualifications round.
Sindhu ousted; Lakshya advances
The in-form Lakshya stayed on course for a maiden Olympic medal but Satwik and Chirag’s dreams came crashing down after a heartbreaking three-game loss in the men’s doubles quarterfinals.
One of the favourites for the gold medal, reigning Asian Games and Commonwealth Games champions, Satwik and Chirag, squandered the first-game advantage to go down 21-13 14-21 16-21 in a hard-fought quarterfinal against world number 3 duo of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia.
Sen brought some cheers back to the Indian camp after registering a comfortable 21-12 21-6 win over a visibly tired HS Prannoy in an all-Indian pre-quarterfinals contest to become only the third male player ever from the country to reach the last-eight of the Olympics badminton competition.
The 22-year-old from Almora joined Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth, who had reached the quarterfinals in the London and Rio edition of the Olympics in 2012 and 2016 respectively.
Currently ranked 22, Sen will face 12th seed Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen in the quarterfinals.
Then came the biggest heartbreak of the day as Sindhu, in pursuit of an unparalleled third Olympic medal lost 19-21 14-21 to China’s He Bing Jiao.
The 10th seeded Hyderabadi fought hard in patches but was mostly playing catch up against the higher-ranked Bing Jiao.
Sindhu, who won the silver and bronze medal at the Rio and Tokyo Games in the 2016 and 2020 edition respectively, had topped the group to qualify for the knockout stage.
Nikhat Zareen exits in tears
It was a tearful end to two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen’s Olympic debut as she was out-punched 0-5 by China’s Wu Yu in the women’s 50kg division.
Nikhat was unseeded for the Games as the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which is holding the boxing competition, doesn’t recognise the International Boxing Association (IBA), which conducts the world championship.
Touted as one of India’s strongest medal contenders, she had been tasked to navigate a nightmarish draw.
“Sorry guys,” an emotional Nikhat said after the loss.
“She was faster. I will analyse this bout once I am home. I had worked hard, prepared myself physically and mentally for this Olympics. I will come back strong,” she promised.
Hockey team suffers first loss
Chasing a second successive medal, the Indian hockey team suffered its first loss of the Olympic Games, going down 1-2 to defending champions Belgium after letting slip a one goal lead in a pool match.
Abhishek gave India the lead in the 18th minute before Belgium made a strong comeback after half-time to score through Thibeau Stockbroekx (33rd) and John-John Dohmen (44th) to seal the win and remain unbeaten in the tournament so far.
Both India and Belgium have already qualified for the quarterfinals from Pool B. India are hoping to better the bronze medal won in the Tokyo edition.
Racewalkers bring up the rear
India’s athletics campaign was off to a poor start as 20km race walkers failed to put up creditable performances.
National record holder Priyanka Goswami finished a poor 41st in the women’s 20km competition while Vikash Singh and Paramjeet Singh ended at lowly 30th and 37th positions respectively in the men’s event.
PTI
