Shooting, Paris 2024 Olympics Highlights, July 31: Swapnil Kusale qualifies for men’s 50m rifle 3 positions final, Aishwary crashes out

That’s a wrap for the day. We’ll be back for more 50m rifle 3P action tomorrow where Swapnil Kusale will be participating in the men’s final tomorrow. Sift Kaur Samra and Anjum Moudgil will be shooting in the qualification event.

Things don’t look good for Rajeshwari and Shreyasi. They are ranked 24th (90) and 25th (90), respectively.

Aishwary hits a 9 off the penultimate shot to drop to 13th with a score of 579-33x.

He may just qualify. There are a couple of shooters, yet to complete their respective series, who can still overtake the Indian.

Aishwary has already dropped three points off his first four shots. Kusale gets a 98 in his first Standing series.

Even before half of the others in the field get to start the final position, China’s Yukun is done. He shoots two 99s.

Argh! A 9 off the last shot means Kusale would finish with 99 on the board. He is currently 10th. A changeover time of 9 minutes will now be given for switching to Standing.

Kusale gets a 98 in the first series. However, five back-to-back 10s sees him recover and enter the top 10 again.

Aishwary drops to 7th from 3rd after scoring 199/200. These are the margins we are dealing with!

(Picture credit: Paris 2024)

A perfect 100 on 100 from Aishwary. This is brilliant shooting from the Madhya Pradesh lad!

The Indians prepare to switch over to Prone within the allotted time of seven minutes. Liu Yukun, meanwhile, has already started shooting in the second position.

Kusale hits two 99s to stay 6th. Aishwary improves in the second series of kneeling to come up to 9th.

Aishwary hits seven 10s in a row. Kusale going strong into the second series of kneeling as well.

Kusale gets things rolling with seven 10s off the first eight shots. Aishwary drops two in his first kneeling series.

Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Swapnil Kusale are wearing bib numbers 1450 and 1445, respectively.

50m rifle 3 positions must be fired in the order: Kneeling, Prone and Standing. A combined 15-minute preparation and sighting time is provided before the match. A total of 60 shots are fired in an allowed duration of an hour and 30 minutes. The changeover time between kneeling to prone is seven minutes. From prone to standing, nine minutes of changeover time is given.

In the qualification stage, there will be 125 targets (five rounds of 25 each) to fire at. The event is spread out over two or three days. The top six athletes will make the final. If scores are tied among multiple shooters, the countback rule is applied to determine the rankings.

12:30 - Trap Women’s Qualification Day 2 - Shreyasi Singh, Rajeshwari Kumari

12:30 - 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men’s Qualification - Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Swapnil Kusale

19:00 - Trap Women’s Final - Shreyasi Singh, Rajeshwari Kumari (Subject to qualification)

The live telecast of the Paris Olympics will be available on Sports18 while the live streaming will be available on JioCinema in India from July 26 to August 11. Only the finals of the shooting events will be televised.

While you wait for the action to begin at the range, take a look at the list of Indians who are set to be in action at the Paris Olympics today.

Paris 2024 Olympics, Day 5: Indians in action today — July 31 schedule, full list of events, venues, timings in IST, live streaming info

On July 31, Indian athletes will be in action across multiple disciplines such as badminton, shooting, table tennis, archery and boxing.

Lock ‘n load! It’s almost time to climb aboard the hype train to Châteauroux, where 21 Indian shooters will take on the mission of going up against 321 of the world’s best to claim the ultimate prize — an Olympic medal.

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) announcing the squad way ahead of July 8 — the Paris 2024 entry deadline — felt like the calm before the storm. The shooters have had an acclimatisation and a hard-training camp at Volmerange-Les-Mines, followed by a two-week break while waiting for Judgement Day.

India has never had more shooters representing the country at the Olympics. Tokyo 2020 saw a previous best of 15. This time, among the 81 participating nations and the IOC (International Olympic Committee) Refugee Team, India will send the most shooters to France, tying with China, followed by the Republic of Korea, which has 16.

It is mostly a new-look squad except for familiar faces in pistol star Manu Bhaker and rifle wielders Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Anjum Moudgil and Elavenil Valarivan. Having waded through the choppy waters of Tokyo, they will be up and running soon for a second shot at glory.

While those who have already performed on the biggest stage would believe that past experience will help them fare better this time, the debutants may be thankful for not having to carry any baggage from previous editions.

Let’s do a quick recap. After returning empty-handed from Tokyo, Indian shooters experienced a curious mix of highs and lows in the subsequent years. Amid developments like numerous rule changes and overhauls in the coaching set-up, several prominent names such as Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma, Apurvi Chandela, and Rahi Sarnobat faded from scorecards for different reasons. A change of guard brought newcomers like Sift Kaur Samra and Sarabjot Singh to the forefront. Others, like Bhaker, entered recovery mode, deeply affected by the media scrutiny. However, she appears to have bounced back just in time.

One of the many factors that will work in favour of the Indians this time is the absence of Russia from the roster owing to the strict qualification restrictions in place after the latter invaded Ukraine.

Although the IOC stated that, as of July 13, 15 AINs (Athlètes Individuels Neutres/Individual Neutral Athletes) with Russian passports had qualified for the Summer Games in Paris (with a maximum of 55 eligible to make it), none of them happens to be shooters.

READ THE FULL PREVIEW BY SANTADEEP DEY HERE.