Manu Bhaker won Bronze medal in Paris Olympics 2024: India’s star shooter Manu Bhaker won India’s first medal of the Olympics 2024 with a bronze medal in the women’s 10m air pistol final on Sunday. Manu ended India’s 12-year wait for an Olympic medal in shooting. She became the first Indian woman shooter to win an Olympic medal. This is India’s first Olympic medal in shooting since London Olympics 2012. In London, Vijay Kumar won silver in men’s 25m rapid fire pistol while Gagan Narang won bronze in men’s 10m air rifle.
Indian shooters returned empty handed from Rio Olympics 2016 and Tokyo Olympics. The 22-year-old Manu, a resident of Jhajjar in Haryana, bagged the bronze medal after finishing third with 221.7 points in the final round of eight shooters. Manu finished third by just one point. Manu was only 0.1 points behind Yeji Kim of South Korea who eventually won the silver medal with 241.3 points. Meanwhile, Korea’s second shooter, Ye Jin Oh, won the gold medal with an Olympic record final score of 243.2 points.
Manu Bhaker: What did Manu Bhaker say after winning the bronze medal?
After winning India’s first medal of Olympics 2024, Manu Bhaker said in an interaction with DD Sports, ‘I am very happy that I could win a medal for India today. I dreamed of winning an Olympic medal for my country and today that dream came true. This moment is special and it is very difficult to put into words.
Talking about the Tokyo Olympics, she said, ‘I was a little disappointed after the Tokyo Olympics but I refocused on my sport, I am thankful to my coaches, my family and my friends who kept encouraging me and never letting me down.’
‘What was going through her mind at the last moment?’ As soon as Manu Bhaker asked this question, she said, ‘I have read the Bhagavad Gita by heart. In the Gita, Shri Krishna has told Arjuna that we should continue to do Karma without thinking about what fruit we will get. So my mind was just shooting and I wasn’t thinking about anything else. I also thank the countrymen who prayed for me.
