Manu Bhaker becomes first Indian woman shooter to clinch medal in Summer Olympics

India’s Manu Bhaker registered history at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, becoming the first Indian woman to register an Olympic medal in shooting. Bhaker bagged the bronze in 10m women’s air pistol event, opening India’s account in the ongoing edition of the Summer Games.

This was also India’s first medal in shooting in the last 12 years ever since Gagan Narang and Vijay Kumar snatched silver and bronze medals respectively in the 2012 Olympics in London.

Bhaker managed to remain in the second spot with three shooters to follow but missed out the hallowed spot by the barest of margin to Korea’s Kim Yeji in the shoot-off.

She had a heartbreak in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics when her pistol malfunctioned. Despite the jury being apprised of the entire disaster, only the malfunctioning part was being allowed to be replaced.

In the process, Bhaker lost out six crucial minutes and by the time she rejoined the contest, she had completely strayed off her momentum. Three years later, redeeming herself, the 22-year-old shooter showed to the world why she was one of the most promising prospects four years ago as well.

Bhaker became the third Indian woman to enter the final rounds of an individual shooting event in the Summer Olympics. She garnered 580 points in the qualification round while shooting 221.7 to clinch the podium finish in Chateauroux.

Her breathtaking vie with South Korea’s Kim Yeji saw the two pushing it to the very end but eventually the latter hammered home a 10.5 in response to Manu Bhaker’s 10.3. South Korea’s Oh Ye Jin clinched gold with an Olympic-record finish, amassing 243.2 points and leapfrogging Vitalina Batsarkshkina.