India's Swapnil Kusale qualified for the final of men's 50m rifle 3-position after finishing 7th in qualification with a score of 590/600. It was a redemption of sorts for him after a debacle at last year's Asian Games final, where he led from the start and was in line for a medal before one poor shot dropped him to fourth.
Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, the other Indian in the fray, had one bad series in the standing round, which brought him down from the top eight to eventually finish in 11th place.
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Kusale became the first-ever Indian to qualify for the final of the men's 50m rifle 3 position.
Today, Kusale was the only one among the top 8 who didn't record a single perfect series of 100. However, he maintained excellent consistency - his last series of 97 was his lowest. He shot three 99s and two 98s before that, which ensured he was always in the hunt for qualiflication.
How did he qualify for the Olympics?
Kusale had won a quota for India in this category, and eventually did well enough in the trials to make it to the squad as well.
At the trials though, he had finished behind Tomar, and eventually almost didn't make it, as he had a very poor final round of trials, but his performances in the first three rounds were good enough for him to make it to the squad.
What happened in his last big final?
At the Asian Games, Kusale qualified in first place; both he and Tomar shot 591, with Kusale taking top spot with more inner tens. In the final, he set the pace in the kneeling and prone rounds. He was leading until the first elimination shot in the standing series, where he shot a 7.6.
He managed to shoot 10.5 and 10.1 in the following shots, but he couldn't recover from the blow created by that one bad shot, which made him fall from first to fourth, where he eventually finished.
Tomorrow, in his first Olympic final, he will know he cannot afford that one bad shot to derail his path towards a medal. Fortunately for Kusale, he has already been there and experienced what it is like.