Manu Bhaker winning bronze at 2024 Paris Olympics is historic first for India – explained

Manu Bhaker became the first Indian woman to win a medal in shooting at the Olympics when she won 10m air pistol bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday. Overall, she was the fifth shooter from India to win a medal at the Olympics, after Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (2004), Abhinav Bindra (2008), Vijay Kumar (2012) and Gagan Narang (2012). The 22-year-old was impressive in qualifying, hitting 27 inside 10s, the most on the field. The brilliant form continued when she put up a tremendous fight in Sunday’s final and ended up falling short of the silver medal fight by a small margin.

Resilient Manu Bhaker became the first Indian shooter to win an Olympic medal when she claimed bronze in the 10m air pistol event here on Sunday, a triumph that opened the country’s account at the Paris Games and ended a 12-year wait for its very – hyped shooters.

The last time India won shooting medals at the Olympics was in the 2012 London edition, where rapid pistol shooter Vijay Kumar and 10m air rifle shooter Gagan Narang won silver and bronze respectively. Narang is the head of mission for the Paris contingent at the moment.

Bhaker, 22, from Jhajjar in Haryana, fought hard to get bronze with a score of 221.7 here.

Korea’s Kim Yeji won silver with a total of 241.3, while her compatriot Jin Ye Oh won gold with a Games record of 243.2.

Bhaker was competing in his second Olympics after drawing a blank in the previous edition.

“After Tokyo, I was very disappointed and it took me a long time to get over it. Frankly speaking, I really can’t explain how good I feel today,” Bhaker, whose Tokyo campaign ended in tears after his pistol failed during Tokyo qualifying, same test, he said with a wide smile on his face.

“I was fighting with all the energy I had. I was very grateful that I got the bronze. I read the Bhagwat Gita and always tried to do what I was supposed to do, I left everything else to God. “We can’t fight against destiny.” added the world champion in the 25m pistol event.

(With PTI inputs)