Manu Bhaker became the first woman shooter from India ever to win an Olympics medal, after claiming a bronze medal in the women’s 10m air pistol event at the Paris Olympics on Sunday. She was just 0.1 behind Kim Yeji when she was eliminated in the final. Kim eventually won a silver medal while her Korean compatriot Oh Ye Jin claimed a gold medal.
Manu Bhaker Wins India’s 1st Medal Of Olympics 2024
Why In News
- Manu Bhaker became the first woman shooter from India ever to win an Olympics medal, after claiming a bronze medal in the women’s 10m air pistol event at the Paris Olympics on Sunday. She was just 0.1 behind Kim Yeji when she was eliminated in the final. Kim eventually won a silver medal while her Korean compatriot Oh Ye Jin claimed a gold medal.
- Manu Bhaker became the fifth Indian shooter to clinch a medal in the Olympic Games after Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (2004 Athens), Abhinav Bindra (2008 Beijing), Vijay Kumar (2012 London) and Gagan Narang (2012 London).
- 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.
Manu Bhaker
- Manu Bhaker is an Indian Olympian who competes in shooting. Born in Jhajjar, Haryana, a state known for its boxers and wrestlers, Manu Bhaker took to 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 Bhaker stunned Olympian and former world No. 1 Heena Sidhu where she won 9 gold medals. Manu shot a record score of 242.3 to erase Sidhu’s mark to win the 10m Air Pistol final. 2018 was Bhaker’s breakthrough year as a shooter as she became a teenage sensation bagging a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games just at the age of 16.
- In the 2018 International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup held at Guadalajara, Mexico. Bhaker won the gold medal in the Women’s 10-metre air pistol, defeating Mexico’s Alejandra Zavala, a two-time champion.
- Manu Bhaker also sealed an Olympics quota place with a fourth-place finish at the 2019 Munich ISSF World Cup. However, her debut at the Games did not go as planned.
- Shortly after Tokyo 2020, Manu Bhaker became the junior world champion in the women’s 10m air pistolat 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.
Achievements:
- Gold Medal in 25m Pistol Team at Asian Games (2022)
- Gold Medal in 25m Pistol Team at World Championship, Baku (2023)
- Quota place for Paris Games 2024 at Asian Shooting Championship, Changwon (2023)
- Bronze Medal in 25m Pistol at World Cup, Bhopal (2023)
- Silver Medal in 25m Pistol at World Championship, Cairo (2022)
- Two Gold Medals in 10m Air pistol individual and women’s team event at World University Games, Chengdu (2021)
Others
- In addition to Bhaker’s success, India’s Ramita Jindal also qualified for a final at the Paris Olympics. Jindal secured fifth place in the women’s 10m air rifle qualification with a score of 631.5.
- However, Elavenil Valarivan, another Indian contender, missed out on the final, finishing 10th with a score of 630.7.
- Jindal, a bronze medallist at the Hangzhou Asian Games, became the second Indian shooter to secure a final berth at these games, following Bhaker’s qualification.
