Manu Bhaker has achieved remarkable success at a young age, securing two bronze medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics and almost missed third one (came at 4th position), along with gold medals at the World Championships, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, and Youth Olympic Games, making her the most accomplished Indian woman shooter in history.
At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Manu Bhaker made history by becoming the first Indian woman to earn two Olympic medals in shooting, clinching bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol event. This achievement followed her groundbreaking performance as the first female shooter to reach an Olympic final in an individual event in two decades. Unfortunately, a pistol malfunction had previously thwarted her chances for a medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the same discipline.
Her background and achievements
She was born on 18 February 2002, in Jhajjar, Haryana. Manu initially engaged in various sports such as tennis, skating, and boxing during her school years. She also competed in a martial art known as ‘thang ta,’ going for the national-level. At the age of 14, shortly after the conclusion of the Rio 2016 Olympics, she made a decision to explore shooting and quickly developed a passion for the sport. Within a week, she requested her father to acquire a sports shooting pistol to refine her skills.
Ram Kishan Bhaker, her father, made the decision by purchasing a gun for her, a choice that would ultimately lead Manu Bhaker to become an Olympic medallist. During the 2017 national shooting championships, Manu Bhaker delivered a remarkable performance, defeating Olympian and former world No. 1 Heena Sidhu. She achieved a record score of 242.3, surpassing Sidhu’s previous mark to secure victory in the 10m Air Pistol final.
Following this success, she earned a silver medal at the 2017 Asian junior championships, and in the subsequent year, Manu Bhaker made a significant impact on the international stage.
In her ISSF World Cup debut in Guadalajara, Mexico, she shattered the junior world record during the qualification rounds, advancing to the women’s 10m air pistol final. Facing Olympic champion Anna Korakaki, three-time ISSF World Cup medallist Celine Goberville, and local favourite Alejandra Zavala in the final, Manu Bhaker scored a total of 237.5, clinching the gold medal in her inaugural appearance.
Detailed achievements of Manu Bhaker
Manu Bhaker, at the age of just 16, became the youngest Indian to secure a gold medal at an ISSF World Cup. Following this achievement, Bhaker teamed up with Om Prakash Mitherval to claim her second gold in the 10m air pistol mixed team event. Despite her young age, Bhaker was still eligible to compete in the ISSF Junior World Cup, where she excelled by winning gold medals in both the individual and mixed team events in the 10m air pistol category. Subsequently, at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, Manu Bhaker set a new CWG record to capture the women’s 10m air pistol gold medal.
Continuing her success, she secured another gold in the 10m air pistol event at her second ISSF Junior World Cup, in addition to a bronze in the mixed team event, narrowly missing out on a medal in the 25m pistol event. Although she did not medal at the 2018 Asian Games, Manu Bhaker concluded the year by making history at the 2018 Youth Olympics Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She clinched the 10m air pistol gold, becoming the first Indian shooter and female athlete from the country to achieve this feat at the Youth Olympics.
Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary formed a successful partnership at the 2019 ISSF World Cup in New Delhi, clinching gold in the mixed team event at all three World Cups that year. Bhaker also secured an Olympics quota spot for Tokyo 2020 with a fourth-place finish at the 2019 Munich ISSF World Cup. Despite her strong performances, Bhaker faced challenges at the Tokyo Olympics, where her pistol malfunctioned during the 10m air pistol qualification. Although she managed to return to the competition, the disruption affected her rhythm, and she narrowly missed out on a spot in the final. Bhaker's partnership with Chaudhary in the mixed 10m pistol event also fell short, finishing seventh overall. Despite these setbacks, Bhaker has continued to excel in the junior circuit, winning the women's 10m air pistol junior world championship in Lima. She has also achieved success in senior competitions, including a silver in the women's 25m pistol at the 2022 Cairo ISSF World Championships and a gold at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou. Her only individual senior victory so far came in the form of a bronze in the women's 25m pistol event at the Bhopal leg of the 2023 ISSF World Cup series.
During the Paris 2024 Olympics, Manu Bhaker was chosen to compete in the 10m air pistol, 10m air pistol mixed team, and women's 25m pistol events. She stood out as the sole athlete from the 21-member Indian shooting team to participate in multiple individual events.
In the final round of her first bronze medal game, Manu Bhaker achieved a score of 221.7, securing the third position among eight competitors. She was surpassed only by Oh Ye Jin of the Republic of Korea, who set a new Olympic record of 243.2 to win the gold medal, and South Korea's Yeji Kim, who edged out Bhaker by a mere 0.1 points to advance to the gold medal round.
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The information in this blog has been sourced from official website of Olympics 2024.
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