NEW DELHI: Shooter Swapnil Kusale, who competed in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris and earned a bronze medal, was met with a hero's welcome on Thursday upon his arrival in Pune, Maharashtra. Last week, Kusale won the first-ever Olympic bronze in the 50-meter rifle three-position competition.
He landed at the Pune international airport in the morning, to the sound of traditional dhol-tasha drums being banged. Kusale, who is from Kolhapur in western Maharashtra, then went to the well-known Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganapati temple in the center of the city and prayed there.
He will be honoured when he visits the shooting range at the city's Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi, as per PTI.
The Maharashtra government said that Kusale would receive a reward of Rs 1 crore for winning the bronze medal.
Kusale was also given a promotion and designated as an officer on special duty by the Central Railway. In 2015, he started working for Central Railway's Pune Division as a Commercial cum Ticket Clerk.
Prior to this, Kusale had won gold medals in the 2023 Asian Games in China, the 2022 World Cup in Baku, and the 2021 World Cup in New Delhi.
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