Paris Olympics 2024 | "He performed very well in standing position": Swapnil Kusale's coach Deepali Deshpande

Deepali Deshpande

India's Olympic bronze medal-winner Swapnil Kusale's personal coach and former India shooter Deepali Deshpande was always confident that her ward would finish in a good position in the final of the 50m rifle 3 positions on Thursday given his "fighting spirit."

Kusale kept his composure to score an aggregate of 451.4 in the eight-shooter final and finish third after being placed sixth at one stage. He finished behind China's Yukun Liu (463.6) and Ukraine's Serhiy Kulish (461.3).

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Kusale hit a few low scores in the kneeling and prone positions before making a strong comeback in the standing position. Interestingly, Deshpande said that he's a better shooter in the kneeling and prone positions. "Kneeling and prone are actually Swapnil's strong positions. I expected him to take the lead in the kneeling position and then finally get a few low scores in the standing position but he did the opposite. He performed very well in standing position despite the hot conditions. And while some of the others were not shooting well, I was always confident that given his fighting spirit, he won't leave this final early," Deshpande told mid-day from Delhi on Thursday following a felicitation ceremony for some of the members of the shooting contingent who
returned from Paris on Thursday.