They say that ‘Sport’ is a great leveller and shooter Manu Bhaker has already realised this at the young age of 22 years. Just three years back, Manu was in tears after her gun had malfunctioned in the final of the women’s 25m final – ending her chance to create history as a 19-year-old on the biggest stage.
On Sunday (July 28), Manu has put the nightmare of Tokyo behind her and become the first-ever female shooter from India to win an Olympic medal at the ongoing Paris Olympics 2024, claiming bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol event. Manu Bhaker was just 0.1 points behind eventual silver medallist South Korea’s Kim Yeji when she was eliminated in the final.
This was after Manu Bhaker almost walked away from the sport of shooting after the debacle at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Manu, who is a nine-time shooting World Cup medallist, has become only the fifth Indian shooter to win an Olympic medal.
The Paris Olympics bronze medallist from Goria in Haryana’s Jhajjar district has endured a lot in an effort to put the disappointment of Tokyo Olympics behind her. “Tokyo is one of the very sour memories of my life. I was not confident in Tokyo,” Manu is quoted as saying Indian Express newspaper ahead of Sunday’s final.
“I had doubts about myself, and my ability to win, I was putting pressure on myself to win – that feeling that somehow, I had to win. That became my only goal and I missed out on so much. I wasn’t enjoying myself, I had cut out everything,” she added.
Ab hoga #JeetKaJashn. The 1st medal for at @Paris2024 Olympic Games. The first Indian woman to win an Olympic Medal in shooting. Take a bow, @realmanubhaker! #JeetKiAur | #Cheer4Bharat | #IndiaAtParis24 pic.twitter.com/z4f5vZD7ST
— Team India (@WeAreTeamIndia) July 28, 2024
Before Manu Bhaker, the only Indian shooters to win Olympic medals were Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (Athens 2004), Abhinav Bindra (Beijing 2008), Vijay Kumar (London 2012) and Gagan Narang (London 2012). The young shooter has broken a 12-year jinx for the shooting contingent by bring home a bronze medal from the Paris Olympics 2024.
She became the 1st Indian female shooter to reach an Olympic Final in an individual event in the last 20 years! The last time was Suma Shirur, who reached the Final of the 10m Air Rifle event in Athens 2004.
Born in Jhajjar in Haryana, a state known for its boxers and wrestlers, Manu Bhaker wasn’t attracted to the sport of shooting to start with. She took up sports like tennis, skating and boxing in school. She also participated in a form of martial arts called ‘thang ta’, winning medals at the national level. She then impulsively decided to try her hand at shooting when she was just 14 – just after the 2016 Rio Olympics ended – and loved it.
At the 2017 National Shooting Championships, Manu managed to stun Olympian and former world No. 1 Heena Sidhu, winning 9 gold medals in the process. She shot a record score of 242.3 to erase Sidhu’s mark to win the 10m Air Pistol final. The year 2018 was Bhaker’s breakthrough year as a shooter as she became a teenage sensation bagging a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games at the age of 16.
Shortly after the nightmare of her Tokyo Olympics debut, Manu Bhaker became the junior world champion in the women’s 10m air pistol at Lima and did win the women’s 25m pistol silver at the 2022 Cairo World Championships and a gold in the same event at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou.
The world has come a full circle for Manu as she stands on the podium in Paris with a big smile on her after ending her Tokyo journey in tears. Manu has the chance of turning the bronze medal into gold in her upcoming events at the Paris Olympics in the days to come.
