During the Olympic competition that took place in Paris on July 28th, Manu Bhaker made history by shooting a bronze medal. In the women’s 10m air pistol final, which took place at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in the French city, the 22-year-old shooter from Haryana became the first Indian female shooter to earn a medal at the Games. She did so by securing the third position in the competition. Three years after suffering a string of heartbreaks in Tokyo, one of the most recognised and brilliant shooters in India was finally able to realise her aspirations, bringing glory to the nation.

As India finally won a medal in the shooting competition at the Olympic Games in Paris, Manu Bhaker broke the country’s 12-year streak of not having won a medal in the sport. Following in the footsteps of Abhinav Bindra, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Vijay Kumar, and Gagan Narang, Manu became the fifth shooter to attain the feat of winning an Olympic medal in the sport of shooting.

With a great deal of self-assurance, Manu Bhaker started the championship match on Sunday. During the time when her name was being called out at the shooting range, Manu was able to grin for the television cameras, much to the joy of the crowd that was from India.


Throughout the eight-woman final, Manu Bhaker never fell out of the top three, which is a testament to her unwavering consistency. Gold was awarded to Oh Ye Jin of Korea, who set a new Olympic record with a total score of 243.2. With a total score of 241.3, Kim Yeji was awarded the Silver medal, bringing Korea’s overall score to 1-2.


As the last elimination round approached, Manu Bhaker and Kim Yeji were competing for the second slot in the competition. In her final two shots, Manu shot 10.1 and 10.3, demonstrating a tremendous amount of guts and determination. Kim was able to finish ahead of Manu despite the fact that she finished with only 9.7 and 9.8 points.

In the first set of five shots, Manu had a success rate of 50.4%, which was a very encouraging start. Three times throughout the first series, Manu had a shot that was more than ten. The second set of five shots was where Manu brought her total to 100.3, and she was able to maintain her position in the top three throughout the entire competition.


In spite of the fact that she competed in three different events at the Tokyo Olympics, Manu Bhaker was unable to overcome the reoccurring recollections of the fact that she did not make it to the final of any of the competitions. Manu even made the decision to give up shooting a year ago until he discovered that he could once again take pleasure in the sport. Manu was in good condition in the days leading up to the Games, and the fact that she had experienced both highs and lows throughout the course of her life helped her develop into the hungry shooter that she was in the range earlier this week.

During the qualification, which took place on Saturday in the shooting range, Manu Bhaker finished in third place, demonstrating her experience and her capacity to better manage her anxiety in Paris. In the moments leading up to the competition, both Manu and her instructor Jaspal Rana appeared composed. Earlier in the day, Rana gave an interview to India Today, and during that conversation, he expressed his confidence in her ward’s capacity to triumph on the most important stage.