ISSF World Cup Baku | Swapnil Kusale wins silver medal in men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event
On Thursday, India's Swapnil Kusale won a silver medal in the men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions (3P) event at the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun in Baku, Azerbaijan. Prior to this, the youngster shot 199 out of 200 in kneeling position, 198 in prone, and 194 in standing position, to qualify second.
The 26-year-old went down to 10-16 to Serhiy Kulish of Ukraine, a Rio Olympic silver medalist. This was also Swapnil's first medal at any World Cup. This medal also takes India to fifth position in the medals tally, with one gold and one silver.
Meanwhile, Kulish shot 411 in the ranking round to Swapnil's 409.1 as Finland's Aleksi took the bronze with 407.8. In the final too, Swapnil did put up a great fight, but in the end, it wasn't enough to take him to a gold medal. In fact, Kulish got four high 10s in his last five shots, while the Indian got three low 10s and two high 9s, which kept him to the silver medal position only, in the final match.
Goldi Gurjar and Olympian Deepak Kumar, two other Indians in the competition, finished 14th and 23rd with scores of 585 and 583, respectively, in the qualification. With three gold medals, Korea leads the leaderboard.