Paris (France): India's star shooter Swapnil Kusale secured a place in the Men's 50m Air Rifle 3 Position final after finishing seventh in the qualification event at the ongoing Paris Olympics 2024 here on Wednesday. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar faltered in the third and final stage of the Standing position and as a result, finished at the 11th spot and failed to advance to the next stage.
The athletes who finished in the top eight have qualified for the final.
Swapnil showed consistency in terms of the points, amassing 99 points in each series. He hit the inner 10 rings on 13 occasions (X- inner 10 rings). Swapnil finished sixth after the kneeling stage. Aishwary finished ninth after the kneeling stage after scoring 98 points in the first series and 99 in the second series including 13X.
After the Prone position round, the Hangzhou Asian Games gold medalist Aishwary overtook his compatriot and attained the sixth spot while Swapnil succumbed and dropped down to 10th place. Aishwarya picked his form in the prone position and shot the perfect 10 in the first series. He finished collecting 199 points on the stage. (series one - 100 and series two - 99) which included 12 inner 10-ring shots that propelled him to enter the top eight. Swapnil, who hails from Kolhapur in Maharashtra, accumulated 197 points (series one - 98 and series two - 99) with 13 inner 10 rings.
50 m Rifle 3P Men's Qualification
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Swapnil Kusale finishes 7th with a total score of 590 and qualifies for the final.
Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar finishes 11th with a total score of 589.
Top 8 from this round qualify for the final.
As more Indian players will play their… pic.twitter.com/rWD8k0Wvcc
Both Aishwary, world ranked 22nd, failed to maintain the momentum and faltered at the final stage, Standing. Aishwary shot four nine-pointers in the first series and managed to reach only 193 points despite accumulating 99 points in the second series of the standing position set. However, he made a slight comeback by collecting 98 points in the second series. However, it wasn't enough for him to enter into the top eight of the qualification event and as a result, he was knocked out of the tournament.
In contrast, Swapnil had kept his calm and held his nerves and amassed 197 points with 98 and 97 points series that included 12 inner 10 rings.
