Manu Bhaker won India’s first medal at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, securing bronze in the women’s 10m pistol event with a score of 221.7 at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre. India has a shooting medal after 12 years; Gagan Narang and Vijay won it in London.
She finished in third place, just 0.1 points behind the eventual silver medallist Oh Yejin of South Korea, while fellow Korean Kim Yeji secured the gold.
Earlier, Manu finished third in the qualification round, becoming the first Indian woman in 20 years to reach an Olympic shooting final in an individual event since Suma Shirur in 2004. Additionally, Manu is the first Indian woman to qualify for the 10m air pistol women’s final at the Olympics.
This was Manu’s redemption after a pistol malfunction in the qualifications at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 had reduced her to tears. A maiden Olympics, in Tokyo, which should have been a career highlight, now elicits distaste. “Honestly, I have very bitter memories from the Tokyo Olympics. I wondered why this happened to me. What did I do wrong?” she told this publication in an earlier interview.
It took her a long time to come to terms with how everything had played out. “I think we all have to make our peace with some situations, especially when it’s no longer in our hands. We can’t change the past. What happened was unpleasant, but I had to find a way to move on with my life,” she added.
Manu achieved the Paris Olympics quota for India by finishing fifth in the women’s 25m pistol event at the 2023 Asian Shooting Championships in Paris 2024. She is the youngest Indian to win a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup. Additionally, she is the Commonwealth Games champion in the women’s 10m air pistol event from Gold Coast 2018, where she set a CWG record. Manu Bhaker is also the first Indian shooter and female athlete from the country to win a gold medal at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires 2018.
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