How Manu Bhaker channelized Tokyo disappointment for near-perfection in Paris

Published at :August 3, 2024 at 4:46 PM

Modified at :August 3, 2024 at 6:00 PM

Bhaker has become first athlete in Independent India to win multiple medals at a single Olympics.

Amidst a global pandemic, India had sent their biggest contingent to an Olympics, when 119 athletes boarded their plane in two batches to Tokyo. India had huge hopes from the contingent, with the world’s leading data and technology company Gracenote predicting India to win 19 medals, which included four gold medals. It created a huge debate, considering India had won only two at the previous Olympics in Rio 2016.

India ended up winning seven medals at Tokyo, their best show in the history of the quadrennial event. However, there were questions raised, as many sports couldn’t replicate the success the squad was capable of. Boxing, wrestling and shooting were the areas of concern.

Boxers with a squad of nine produced one medal, while wrestling with a talent-filled seven-member contingent produced two medals. But, the shooting squad with 15 members returned home empty-handed. It was a huge disappointment, as the squad had world champions, Commonwealth and Asian Games gold medallists.

One of the names that did the rounds was Manu Bhaker. The teenager who has been making headlines ever since she came onto the scene as a 15-year-old, just a year after she took up the sport of shooting. Till the age of 14, she had excelled in multiple sports like boxing, tennis, and skating, winning national events. But, an impulsive decision to try her hand at shooting put her on the global scene.

Turbulence in Tokyo

At the Tokyo Olympics, 19-year-old Indian shooter Manu Bhaker faced several challenges in her events. Despite the COVID-19 precautions, she and her mixed team partner Saurabh Chaudhary, also 19, attracted significant media attention.

During the 10m air pistol qualification round, Bhaker experienced a technical issue with her pistol. She had to leave the shooting range to fix the problem, which interrupted her performance. After replacing the faulty part, Bhaker returned to complete her remaining shots under time pressure. Although she performed well considering the circumstances, it wasn’t enough to secure a place in the top eight and advance to the medal round.

In the mixed team event, Bhaker and Chaudhary were considered strong contenders, having won five out of six World Championships they had competed in together. They started well, leading after the first qualification phase. However, they ultimately finished ninth, missing out on a spot in the finals.

Bhaker’s Olympic journey ended with the 25m air pistol event, where she was unable to qualify for the final round.

Struggling to bounce back

The nation was disappointed with none bigger than the shooters themselves. For the teenager that Manu was, it had left a massive dent in her confidence. The Haryana girl known for her fighting spirit, continued practicing, but the results were far from what she would love to see.

She struggled with poor form and took home only one medal from the ISSF World Cup, a bronze in the women’s 25m pistol competition in Bhopal in 2023. Her other accomplishment during the previous two years was winning a silver medal in Cairo during the 2022 World Championships. Much like every Gen Z kid would do, she tried her hand at reading self-motivating things.

She gave a read to the book ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a ****’ to draw inspiration from it. Another Gen Z act she did was picking the line ‘Still I Rise’ — from Maya Angelou’s poem and It did give her positive signs, but she still couldn’t replicate her successful years before Tokyo, when she had won nine World Cups before turning 20.

Turning Point

She was contemplating retirement as the youngster was under tremendous pressure after severe criticism. Bhaker realized that she had to go back to the traditional way. Firstly, she decided to reunite with her old coach Jaspal Rana, one of the greats of Indian shooting. Under his guidance, she had huge success. But, they had parted ways before the Tokyo event.

The shooter wanted to get back to his demanding style of coaching which could strengthen her resilience. It was her coach who reminded her of her capabilities. A pistol malfunction is not something Bhaker had experienced for the first time in Tokyo. She experienced a snag during the 2019 World Cup in Munich in the 25m rapid pistol event. She was consoled by her coach and in a couple of days she won a quota for the Tokyo Olympics by finishing fourth in the 10m air pistol event.

Secondly, she listened to her mother who constantly chants slogans of Bhagavad Gita. Just like she said after her first Olympic medal, she was following the verses of the Gita, which talks about ‘karma’ and doing your best with what you can control and not worrying about the results.

Perfection in Paris

Manu showed the process she was following in the finals. She started brilliantly with a score of 50.4 in the first series, which put her in second spot. But, a couple of 9.6s in the second series pushed her down to the third spot. She showed no disappointment in missing the mark, as her focus was on getting the following shot right. She was living by the mantra she believed in.

The next two shots were the start of the elimination round. Fear of failure might have got to her competitors, but not Bhaker as she scored 20.9, which was the best in the series. She continued to be consistent, which helped her win the bronze medal.

Her success of becoming the first Indian woman shooter to win an Olympic medal never got into her mind, as she was back at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in Paris for the mixed team event, just like she was practicing in her hometown. It was clinical from Manu and Sarabjot Singh in the qualification to book their place in the bronze medal match against South Korea.

It was the Koreans that had overhauled Bhaker to win the gold and silver in the 10m pistol event. In the mixed team event, she faced Oh Ye Jin, the Olympic champion. But, the mental toughness she had built with the coaching of Rana came to the fore, as the 22-year-old had the best precision of the four shooters in the bronze medal match.

Her partner Sarabjot started off slowly, Manu was hitting the 10-point range more often which helped her become the first Indian in Independent India to win multiple medals in an Olympics. Her life has come full circle after winning the elusive Olympic medal. However, Bhaker still had a bigger lesson to teach all the Indians.

Having won two medals, she eased into the finals of the 25m air pistol event and was on the verge of creating history. In the finals, she was in line to get it done but she missed a couple of shots and as a result ended up finishing fourth, missing a medal by just one point. She was disappointed evidently but, her reactions were quite similar to when she won medals. Her achievements will inspire millions to take up the sport and if those can follow her equanimity, they could reach the heights of Bhaker’s accomplishments.

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