Chateauroux, Aug 3
Indian shooter Manu Bhaker missed the hat-trick of medals in the ongoing Paris Olympic after finishing fourth with 28 points in the 25m pistol women’s final here on Saturday. The 22-year-old said she was very nervous during her final and failed to deliver her best in the range.
She was initially tied for third place with former World record holder (25m pistol), Veronika Major of Hungary before she dropped two points in the shoot-off series to hand the Hungarian a podium finish.
“I was very nervous in the final. Although I was trying on each shot things did not turn out to be very good for me. There's always a next time and I'm already looking forward to the next one," Manu said after missing the bronze medal on Saturday.
"I was trying my best to keep calm and try to do my best but that was not enough. I'm glad that I've won two medals but the fourth place is not a very good place to be in," she added.
Yang Jiin of South Korea won gold with 37 points (via shoot-off - 4-1) while French shooter Camille Jedrzejewski finished second to bag a silver.
Manu was asked did social media pressure played any hindrance to her final, to which the shooter replied, "Honestly, I've been off from social medal. I am not checking my phone at all. In most of the events, I was able to give my best performance but not in this one today."
After a shoot-off, Manu finished with 590-24x points to rank second in the 60-shot qualification round on Friday. In the precision stage, she notched 294 while scoring 296 in the rapid part.
Bhaker reflected on her success at Paris 2024 after the heartbreak of Tokyo 2020. "There has been a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes. I'm here but so many people have been working hard so I can make it to the podium, and so India can win a medal. I'm so happy that my entire team was there for me to support me throughout my journey. It has been great and I would like to thank every one of them, the OGQ team, the SAI team, the entire Ministry, and our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi ji, who took time off his busy schedule. My coach, Jaspal sir, my parents, my family, everyone. My friends, and the support staff at the range, I'm so grateful to every single one of you and I love you all so much. Keep cheering for India and next time, probably we can finish higher. Hoping for the best," she said.
The double Olympic bronze medallist said she will now eat lunch as her events end in the Olympics.
"To begin with, I will eat lunch because all these days I was not getting lunch. I was having breakfast and spending the entire day at the range. In the evening, I was able to eat. I will work even harder," she concluded.
Manu progressed to her third final at the Summer Games after coming second in the women's 25m pistol shooting qualifier on Friday. No other Indian shooter has reached more than one final at a single Olympics, and only Abhinav Bindra has made three Olympic shooting finals for India in three Games.
Earlier in the week, she bagged bronze medals in women's 10m air pistol and mixed 10m air pistol (with Sarabjot Singh) events for India. She became the first Indian woman shooter to win an Olympic medal for the country and also the first Indian to win more than one medal in the single edition of the quadrennial event.
