Manu Bhaker scripts history as she becomes the first Indian woman shooter to win an Olympic medal. India has been waiting for the medal for 12 years. She finally ended the wait with a bronze medal in air shooting. Manu Bhaker said, “This medal was due for so long, for India”.
Three years ago, she returned from the Olympics with a maiden play. The heartbreak was too much to handle for her. She found shooting ‘boring’ after that. She said that she didn’t feel the same spark that her 14-year-old self felt while holding the air pistol. She even wanted to quit shooting and pursue higher studies in abroad. Manu Bhaker desire for holding the medal seemed dull. But she did not give up. And here she is with the first Olympic medal for India in air shooting. Her coach, Jaspal Rana, requested for a reunion after the last Olympics and that’s where she got the courage to not give up and rise back.
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Manu Bhaker mentioned in an interview before entering into the game that “the first six months of 2022 and 2023 felt like a 9-5 job to me. It just didn’t give me the kick. I starting feeling boring while practicing shooting.” She even told that “I knew I was still in the team and I am doing okay but I just wanted to leave all this and focus on my studies abroad.”
Manu Bhaker & her achievements:
Manu even learnt violin and she was learning the tunes of the Indian National Anthem. She was born in Jhajjar, Haryana. The state is best known for boxers and wrestlers. Manu was keen in sports from her school time only. She played tennis, skating and a lot of martial arts also. When she turned 14, she wanted to run her hands on air shooting, just after the Rio Olympics 2016. In 2017, she broke the record of world No. 1 Olympian Heena Sidhu (she has won 9 gold medals). After the Tokyo 2020, she became the junior world champion in women’s air pistol shooting. She won the 25m silver at the 2022 Cairo World Championship and won gold at the 25m pistol shooting in 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou.
