Manu Bhaker ends 12-year Olympic drought in shooting
In a significant achievement for India, Manu Bhaker opened the country’s medal tally at the Paris Olympics, bagging a historic bronze medal in the women’s 10m pistol event with a score of 221.7 in the final.
Manu Bhaker became the first Indian women’s shooter to win a medal at the Olympics.
Bhaker maintained an excellent standard from start to finish, showing incredible skill and composure and spending the majority of the event in the top 3.
Manu’s bronze medal brings India its first shooting medal in 12 years since Gagan Narang and Vijay Kumar’s successes at the 2012 London Olympics.
After winning the medal, Manu said, “I feel great and it was a medal-long due for India. I was just merely a mode to do it and India deserves even more medals, as many as possible. We are looking forward to as many events as possible this time. And the entire team has worked really hard. And personally, for me, the feeling is really surreal.”
“I read a lot ofBhagavad Gita and all, so what was going through my mind is its teaching, ‘just do what you are meant to do, just do what you are supposed to do, and whatever the destiny, you can’t control the outcome of it’. In the Gita, Krishna says to Arjun ‘You know you focus on your karma and not on the outcome of the Karma’, so only that was running through my mind. I was like, ‘Okay, just do your thing and let it all be from here,” the bronze medalist said.
With this medal, the 22-year-old Manu became the fifth Indian shooter to win a medal in the Olympic Games, joining the list of RVS Rathore (2004), Abhinav Bindra (2008), Gagan Narang (2012) and Vijay Kumar (2012), taking India’s tally in shooting at the Olympic Games to five medals — one gold, two silver, and two bronze.
Earlier in the day, 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‘s remarkable performance in 2004.
South Korea’s Oh Ye Jin wins the gold with an Olympic record score of 243.2 points. Another Korean Ki Yejin takes the silver with 241.3 points.
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Hats OFF to Pistol Girl…….your pistol skills got you bronze…..be an army commando.
Very elated to see girls pushing the borders & bringing gold & fame to the country. You small interview post winning Olympic gold medal, you spoke like pro…. I salute you girl……
Pappu to learn lessons from these young teenage girls…..