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Little-known shooter Kusale secured a bronze with an aggregate score of 451.4 despite being placed sixth at one stage in the eight-shooter final.
Kusale’s bronze takes India’s overall tally to three medals, all in shooting, placing the country 42nd on the medal table.
Kusale’s impressive display follows the outstanding achievements of Manu Bhaker, who won bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol and the mixed team 10m air pistol alongside Sarabjot Singh.
This marked the first time India has secured three medals from one single sport in Olympic history.
“I did not eat anything, was feeling the butterflies (in my stomach). Just had black tea and came here. The night before every match, I just pray to god,” news agency PTI quoted Kusale as saying after his unprecedented achievement.
“Today the heartbeat was on the higher side. I just tried to control my breathing and did not try anything different,” he added.
Kusale hails from Kambalwadi village near Kolhapur in Maharashtra, where his father and brother are teachers and his mother is the sarpanch. In the final, Kusale finished behind China’s Yukun Liu, who shot 463.6, and Ukraine’s Serhiy Kulish, who scored 461.3.
The last Indian 50m rifle shooter to make it to the Olympic finals was Joydeep Karmakar in the 2012 London Games, where he finished fourth in the now-discontinued 50m rifle prone event.
Kusale started the final’s standing series in fourth place. His first shot in the kneeling position was a 9.6, a low score that he quickly recovered from with impressive 10.6 and 10.3 shots, momentarily placing him in second. Subsequent scores of 9.1 and 10.1 pushed him back to fourth, but a crucial 10.3 shot propelled him to third, a position he maintained to secure his medal.
Kusale brilliant performance was followed by a series of disappointments as two-time Olympic medallist shuttler Sindhu, two-time world champion boxer Nikhat Zareen (50kg), badminton’s celebrated men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, and promising rifle shooter Sift Kaur Samra made their way out of the event.
In contrast, Anjum Moudgil and Sift did not manage to qualify for the final of the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions event, finishing 18th and 31st in the qualifications round, respectively.
Despite the day’s disappointments in other sports, Lakshya Sen provided a glimmer of hope by advancing to the quarterfinals in the men’s singles badminton event, defeating compatriot HS Prannoy.
Sindhu, Satwik-Chirag ousted; Lakshya advances
Lakshya Sen remained in contention for his first Olympic medal while Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s hopes were dashed after a close men’s doubles quarterfinal loss.
Sen won against fellow Indian HS Prannoy to reach the last eight, becoming only the third Indian male badminton player to do so at Olympics.
Sen comfortably defeated a tired HS Prannoy with a score of 21-12, 21-6 in the pre-quarterfinals, marking a significant achievement for the 22-year-old from Almora. He joins the ranks of Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth, who reached the quarterfinals in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, respectively. Sen, currently ranked 22, will face 12th seed Chou Tien Chen from Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals.
Satwik and Chirag, who were also seen as strong contenders for a medal and are the reigning Asian Games and Commonwealth Games champions, lost a thrilling match against Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik. Despite winning the first game 21-13, they could not maintain their lead and eventually lost 21-13, 14-21, 16-21 to the world number 3 pair.
Adding to the day’s disappointments, Sindhu fell short in her bid for a third Olympic medal. She lost her match to China’s He Bing Jiao, with scores of 19-21, 14-21. Despite fighting hard, Sindhu, the 10th seed, struggled to keep up with the higher-ranked Bing Jiao.
Sindhu, who had previously won silver in Rio and bronze in Tokyo, had topped her group to reach the knockout stage. Her loss ended her pursuit of another medal and dampened the spirits of her supporters.
Nikhat Zareen exits in tears
Nikhat Zareen, a two-time world champion, faced a disappointing end to her Olympic debut, losing 0-5 to China’s Wu Yu in the women’s 50kg boxing division.
Despite being one of India’s top medal prospects, Nikhat was unseeded due to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) not recognizing the International Boxing Association (IBA), which oversees the world championship.
Nikhat’s Olympic journey was further complicated by a difficult draw.
“Sorry guys,” an emotional Nikhat said after the loss.
“She was faster. I will analyse this bout once I am home. I had worked hard, prepared myself physically and mentally for this Olympics. I will come back strong,” she promised.
Hockey team suffers first loss
The Indian men’s hockey team faced its first defeat at the Olympic Games, losing 1-2 to defending champions Belgium in a pool match, despite holding an initial lead.
Abhishek scored for India in the 18th minute, but Belgium turned the game around after halftime with goals from Thibeau Stockbroekx in the 33rd minute and John-John Dohmen in the 44th minute.
With the win, Belgium remains unbeaten in the tournament.
Both India and Belgium have already secured their spots in the quarterfinals from Pool B.
India aim to improve upon the bronze medal they won in the Tokyo edition.
Racewalkers bring up the rear
India’s athletics campaign was off to a poor start as 20km race walkers failed to put up creditable performances.
Vikash Singh and Paramjeet Singh ended at lowly 30th and 37th positions respectively in the men’s event while national record holder Priyanka Goswami finished a poor 41st in the women’s 20km competition.
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