Asian Shooting Championship 2023: Manu Bhaker secures India's 11th quota in shooting for Paris Olympics

She is the only shooter from Tokyo Olympics to secure a quota for the upcoming Games.

India's Manu Bhaker finished fifth in women's 25m pistol at the ongoing Asian Shooting Championship 2023. By the virtue of finishing fifth, the youngster secured India an all-important Olympic quota in the discipline. She finished a credible by scoring 24 in the finals. With this the Indian shooting contingent has won 11 quotas for Paris Olympics with a few more still left.

Moreover, Manu Bhaker is the only Indian shooter from Tokyo Olympics 2020 to win a quota for Paris with the rest either out of contention or yet to secure a quota place.

The 21-year-old once again finished on the top in the qualification round by scoring 591. However, she couldn't replicate the same form going into the finals as she faltered to a fifth-place finish. The scoring pattern in the qualification and final is a bit different which could be one of the reasons.

In the final, the Indian had a bright start hitting 4 out of the 5 targets. She was placed second behind Iran's Haniyeh Rostamiyan who had a perfect 5 score. Manu continued to hold onto the second place after hitting successive four points in the next series. This time she was tied alongside Rostamiyan who could only hit three targets.

The Indian continued to hold on to the podium spot when the first elimination took place at the end of series 4. At the end of series 6, Manu Bhaker assured India of an Olympic quota upon the exit of Chinese Taipei's Chia Ying Wu. In the following series, the Indian shot three which did not prove enough to progress to the next stage. Nan Zhao of China alongside Manu Bhaker were tied 24 each which resulted in a shootoff.

Zhao shot perfect 5 with the Indian finding only three targets. With this Manu Bhaker got eliminated but had something to contend with.