Swapnil Kusale (born 6 August 1995) is an Indian

sport shooter Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms ( firearms and airguns, in forms s ...

. He won the bronze medal at the

2024 Summer Olympics ) , nations = TBA , athletes = 10,500 ''(quota limit)'' , events = 329 in 32 sports (48 disciplines) , opening = 26 July 2024 , closing = 11 August 2024 , opened_by = , stadium = Stade de France Jardins du Trocadéro and River Seine , summer ...

in the men's 50 metre rifle three positions event.

Early life

Kusale was born on 6 August 1995, in Kambalwadi village in

Kolhapur district Kolhapur district (Marathi pronunciation: olʱaːpuɾ is a district in the Maharashtra state of India. The city of Kolhapur is its district headquarter. It is situated near Panchaganga river. It is bordered by the Sangli district to the Nor ...

. In 2009, his father enrolled him into

Maharashtra government Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subdivi ...

's Krida Prabhodini sports programme. After one year of intense physical training, Kusale had to choose one sport and ended up choosing shooting. In 2015, he became a ticket collector for the

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

, which helped him buy his first rifle.

Shooting career

In 2015, he won gold in 50m rifle prone 3 in the junior category in

2015 Asian Shooting Championships The 2015 Asian Shooting Championships was held in Kuwait between November 1 and November 12. This tournament was supposed to be an Asian qualifying tournament for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. However, this qualification event lost its Rio Ol ...

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the no ...

. In the same year, he also won the 59th National Shooting Championship held in Tughlakabad ahead of Gagan Narang and

Chain Singh Subedar Chain Singh (born 5 April 1989) is an Indian sport shooter and a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in the Indian Army. He won the Bronze medal at the 2014 Asian Games in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions event. He won an individual Gold ...

in 50m rifle prone event. In 2017, he repeated the same performance in 61st National Championship in

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

by winning a gold in 50m rifle 3 position. In October 2022, he earned an Olympic quota berth for India in the men's 50-metre rifle 3 position event with a fourth place finish at the

2022 ISSF World Shooting Championships The 1st ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Shooting Championships were held in Cairo, Egypt from 12 to 27 October 2022 in 78 events. This also served as qualification event for 2024 Summer Olympics. Medals Senior Medal summary Senior Men Women Mixed ...

in Cairo. In May 2024, he was selected in the Indian Olympic team in the 50m rifle 3 positions event after the trials in Delhi and Bhopal. Despite finishing 5th in the final trial, Kusale was selected in the team as the second shooter based on his scores in the first three trials. At the

2024 Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 2024), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la XXXIIIe Olympiade, links=no) and also known as Paris 2024, is an upcoming international multi-sport event that is ...

, Kusale became the first Indian to qualify for the final of the men's 50 metre rifle three positions event, and won the bronze medal with a score of 451.4 in the final.

Career outside shooting

He joined joined Central Railway in 2015 as a Travelling Ticket Examiner. He was requesting for a promotion for years. Post his Bronze-medal winning achievement, he was given a double promotion and has been promoted to the post of Officer on Special Duty, Sports Cell in Mumbai.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kusale, Swapnil 1995 births Living people Indian male sport shooters Sport shooters from Maharashtra Shooters at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic shooters for India Shooters at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in shooting Asian Games gold medalists for India Medalists at the 2022 Asian Games Olympic bronze medalists for India Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics People from Kolhapur district