Swapnil Kusale keeps his calm under pressure to hand India a record third bronze in shooting at Paris Olympics

PARIS: Swapnil Kusale was a picture of calm as he battled on to clinch the Olympic bronze in the 50m rifle 3 positions final on Thursday.

Much like his hero MS Dhoni, the Indian shooter seemed completely unfazed by all the drama that was unfolding. The consistency under extreme pressure had taken him this far and didn't leave him just when it mattered. As the announcement finally happened that Czech Republic's World No. 2 Jiri Privratsky would be eliminated from a fray of four, was there a hint of a smile on Swapnil's face?

Probably it was. All those years of struggle were behind him, the Kolhapur boy was now an Olympic medal winner. A sense of satisfaction could just have crept in and it did come into play when the battle came down to settling the 1-2. Swapnil didn't make the final cut, but the bronze had already been assured.

"I feel great. I was a little nervous and my heart is still racing. I'm proud to have brought home a bronze for India," Kusale said, soaking in the moment.
At one point, Kusale, who qualified in seventh place, was even in contention for the silver but in the end, Serhiy Kulish of Ukraine had a narrow escape after 44 shots and that won him the medal.

China's Yukun Liu, who equalled the Olympic record in the qualifying round on Wednesday, looked in a different orbit, shooting a perfect 10.9 on his 44th shot to secure the gold. The Chinese World No. 1 also holds the world record.

The 28-year-old, who admitted to faster heartbeats and butterflies in the stomach before the 9.30 am final, had a modest start in the kneeling position as he opened with a 9.6 but bounced back quickly with four 10s. His worst shot in the second series was a 9.9 as he kept pace with the rest of the field. The Railways officer, trained by former India international Deepali Deshpande, improved further in the third series as he ended the kneeling position in the fifth spot.

Kusale's morning devotional chants, a ritual before he starts any big match, and his mother's prayers all seemed to have worked wonders as the Indian zoomed in on the target 50m away with amazing focus in the prone position. He had an exceptional start and fired a near perfect 10.8 with his second shot. Despite his high scores with all the 15 shots, he was still lying fifth with all the finalists firing high scores. The indoor arena took the weather factor out of the equation and it helped the underdogs to get a level-playing field.

The standing position - a series of 10 shots that's considered hardest by former international shooters - saw Kusale falter twice with a 9.1 and 9.5 but three high scores of 10.6 and 10.7 in the rest helped him to stay in medal contention. The top shooters were still neck-and neck and there was hardly anything to separate them. Norway's Jon-Hermann Hegg, who was leading after the kneeling and prone series, stumbled in the standing position and soon dropped to fifth place.

Next was the high-pressure single shots and with that started the elimination process with Kusale lying third. The India No. 2 in the event opened with a 10.5 but then added 9.4, 9.9 and 10.0. It was time to decide the third place winner and Kusale had to exit with the bronze. His tally of 451.4 points just short of the 451.9 totalled by Kullish.

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