Paris Olympics: Why Swapnil Kusale, India’s medal hero, reminds one of Dhoni

Swapnil Kusale, the boy-next-door from Kolhapur in Maharashtra, turned India’s unlikely hero at the Châteauroux range when the shooter earned them a third medal in Paris – a bronze in the 50m Rifle 3 position on Thursday, 1 August. It’s only the country’s third medal in rifle shooting in Olympics after Abhinav Bindra’s historic gold in men’s 10m air rifle at Beijing 2008 and Gagan Narang's bronze in the same event at London 2012.

“I have a lot of emotions right now,’’ an emotional Kusale told the media after proving to be a surprise package. “This medal means a lot. It is not a gold, but I am pleased I got a medal. To get an Olympic medal is a dream.”

Who is the country’s new man of the moment in the range? There is an uncanny similarity between the 28-year-old Swapnil and the iconic cricket hero Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the sense that much like the former India captain, Swapnil is employed as a ticket collector with the Indian Railways in Nashik. While MSD quit the job to pursue his career bigtime, Swapnil has no choice but to balance the government job and his shooting aspirations as it has brought some financial stability to his family.

Speaking to TOI on Wednesday after he made the medal round, father Suresh revealed that the family was not in a position to afford a new rifle for Swapnil – who had been managing with a single weapon for the last eight years. May be, things will change after Thursday.

Despite being a teacher in a Zilla Parishad school on a meagre salary, his father tried to encourage Swapnil’s sporting inclinations by enrolling him into Shiv Chatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi in Pune. After one year of hardcore physical training, he chose shooting on being asked to pick up a particular discipline and has not looked back ever since.

In 2015, he won a gold in 50m rifle prone 3 in the junior category in 2015 Asian Shooting Championships in Kuwait. He also won the 59th National Shooting Championship held in Tughlakabad ahead of Gagan Narang and Chain Singh in the 50m rifle prone event. He then produced an encore in the 61st National Championship in Thiruvananthapuram with a gold in 50m rifle 3 position.

It was his fourth place finish at the World Championship in Cairo in 2022 which enabled Swapnil win a Olympic quota place for the country. The Hangzhou Asian Games, which saw India reap rich in the shooting range, also had him as a part of the gold medallist team while he finished with two silver medals in individual and team events at the World Cup in Baku.

Shooting at the National Shooting Center in Châteauroux, Swapnil lay in sixth position after the first 15 shots in kneeling positions with 153.3 - two off Norweigian shooter Jon-Hermann, who led the field at the point.

However, some consistent shooting in the three series in prone position and two series in standing positions saw the Indian shooter climb up to third at the end of stage 1, following which the bottom two shooters were eliminated.

With one elimination after every single shot in stage 2 after that, he shot 10.5, 9.4 and 9.9 with his next three shots to hold his position in the top three and confirmed a medal. However, a 10.0 with the next shot wasn’t enough to keep him in contention for the gold.

The People’s Republic of China’s Liu Yukun, the world recordholder in the event, won the gold medal with 463.6 while Ukraine’s Serhiy Kulish (461.3) picked up his second Olympic silver to add to his earlier one from Rio 2016. Kusale tallied 451.4.