Manu Bhaker has ended a 12 years old wait for an Olympic Medal in shooting as of July 28, 2024. In a historic achievement, Manu Bhaker has secured a bronze medal in the women’s 10m air pistol event at the Paris 2024 Olympics. This marks the first medal for India at the Paris 2024 Olympics and the first Olympic medal in shooting for India since the London 2012 Olympic Games, informed Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, PIB.
With 580 in the qualification rounds, shot 221.7 and shooting the highest number of perfect scores (27), Manu Bhaker becomes the first Indian female shooter to win a medal in Olympics, a day after she became the first female shooter to reach an Olympic final in an individual event in the last 20 years.
She is also the first Indian woman to qualify for the 10m air pistol women’s final round at any Olympics.
Following the historic victory, on the social media platform X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Manu Bhaker on winning the Bronze medal in Women’s 10m Air Pistol event at Paris Olympics 2024, “A historic medal! Well done, @realmanubhaker, for winning India’s FIRST medal at #ParisOlympics2024! Congrats for the Bronze. This success is even more special as she becomes the 1st woman to win a medal in shooting for India.
An incredible achievement! #Cheer4Bharat”
Similarly, on the said platform, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of Labour and Employment; Youth Affairs and Sports, also commented, “A proud moment, @realmanubhaker wins Bharat’s first medal, a BRONZE in Women’s 10m Air Pistol at #ParisOlympic2024! Congratulations Manu, you have displayed your skill & dedication, you have become 1st woman shooter to win an Olympic medal for Bharat!”
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Her achievements include:
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)
Manu Bhaker, born in Jhajjar, Haryana, is an Indian Olympian who competes in shooting. From a young age, Manu experienced fondness for sports like tennis, skating and boxing in school and 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 developed a strong affection for it.
Under such course, Manu Bhaker stunned Olympian and former world No. 1 Heena Sidhu when she won 9 gold medals at the 2017 National Shooting Championships with a record score of 242.3 to surpass Sidhu’s mark to win the 10m Air Pistol final.
Manu later became a sensation as she bagged a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games just at the age of 16 in the year 2018. 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 secured an Olympic quota spot in 2019, however, her Tokyo 2020 debut fell short. She rebounded at the 2020 Junior World Championships as she became the Junior World Champion in the women’s 10m air pistol. In 2022, she also won the Cairo World Championships silver, and in 2023, she bagged the Asian Games gold, solidifying her position as a rising star in shooting.
