Manu soars into history with India’s 2nd shooting bronze

Chateauroux As Manu Bhaker smiled and posed with her medal next to a rather stoic-looking Sarabjot Singh, a remark by an Indian fan in the stands overhung through the periodic waves of chants.

“Legend Manu!”

That’s a precious term in Indian sport, more so of the Olympic kind. In a country which has seen a sprinkle of 20 individual medals at the Olympics since the turn of the century, only a select few can attach themselves to that honour.

Manu has fired two landmark shots towards that at the 2024 Paris Olympics, becoming the first in independent India to medal twice at the same Games on Tuesday. In the company of Olympic debutant Sarabjot, the 10m air pistol bronze medallist made her way on the podium again in the 10m mixed team event after beating South Korea’s Lee Won-ho and Oh Ye-jin 16-10 in the bronze medal match on the ranges of Chateauroux. For 22-year-old Sarabjot, reduced to tears on Day 1 after missing out on forcing a shootoff for a spot in the 10m air pistol final due to fewer inner 10s, Tuesday’s medal came as a quick redemption.

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For Manu, it was two bronze medals won by a single person, which also makes up India’s tally so far from these Games. It’s unprecedented in India’s Olympic history of individual feats — as much as KD Jadhav’s bronze was in 1952 Helsinki, or Karnam Malleswari’s bronze in 2000 Sydney, or Abhinav Bindra’s gold in 2008 Beijing, or Sushil Kumar and PV Sindhu going back-to-back across two Games, or Neeraj Chopra going solo and golden in 2021.

Manu, all of 22 and in her second Games, finds herself being talked up among these pathbreakers. Does she feel so too? Manu pauses, reflects, reverts.

“Look, it feels great. I’ve always looked up to athletes like Neeraj and Sindhu, who have always been able to prove themselves at a certain level,” Manu smiled, clutching the bronze medal around her neck while the other one was kept safe in her bag. “I mean, they will always be my seniors. I can’t compare myself to them.”

She could, however, dream. Which the pistol shooter did as a prodigious teen who soared early, stumbled in her first Olympics in Tokyo, survived the destructive after-effects and sailed along once again towards it. That dream didn’t rest at merely becoming an Olympic medallist.

“Any athlete who reaches a certain level and knows about the Olympics, winning a medal in it remains the dream. It was mine too — to win medals for India, as many of them as possible,” she said.

Read more: Manu Bhaker's tryst with history in Paris, becomes first Indian to win multiple medals at single Olympic Games

To put Manu’s “as many of them” thus far (she has another event to go, lest we forget) in perspective, her two bronze medals here equal the entire Indian Olympic contingent’s total count at the 2016 Rio Olympics — where, incidentally, Sindhu won her first medal. It also matches the shooting squad’s overall success rate at 2012 London. Medal-less in two straight Olympics thereafter, Manu has single-handedly lifted India’s shooting medals and mood so far in this quiet town, around 300km away from bustling Paris.

There’s also perhaps a sign in Manu’s double to lift India’s delight as a whole in its Olympics journey. Swimmer Michael Phelps is considered arguably the greatest Olympian because he made medalling multiple times in a single Games a habit. Successful Olympic nations with high medal-winning pedigree attach greater attention to sports and athletes that present that opportunity — swimming and gymnastics, for instance.

In India’s sporting ecosystem that has thus far seen single-digit returns, shooting comes closest to having multiple medallists as things stand. India had several shooters compete in two events at these Games (individual and team), with hits and misses alike. Manu is the only shooter to compete in three events, coming up with two historic hits.

The second, much like the first, felt surreal. “I hadn’t hoped I would win two medals in a single Olympics,” she said.

A shot at the third is in the offing. Manu will line up again on August 2 in the 25m women’s pistol qualification.

She wants to keep going, does “legend Manu”.

“I can’t say that about myself,” Manu said. “If people call me that, then I’m grateful that they do. But my journey will continue. It’s no stopping for me. I will keep working hard, keep my head high and carry on.”