ISSF World Cup: With gold in Lima, Suruchi Phogat throws the gauntlet to Manu Bhaker
The 18-year-old from Haryana’s Jhajjar district followed her gold medal in Buenos Aires with another top finish
New Delhi: At the start of the 10m air pistol final at the World Cup in Lima, cameras panned on Manu Bhaker, easily the biggest name in the draw. Her face betrayed little emotion, barring a smile that she had dutifully practised in all her years of being in the spotlight.
Suruchi Phogat, her compatriot and competitor, was at the other end of the spectrum — raw, unrehearsed, spontaneous. Their shooting ended up being a reflection of their demeanour.
Bhaker shot with assured precision, but Phogat fired with the courage that youth begets. Five lanes apart, this was a contest within the contest, the young challenger eager to take down the veteran who happened to be the two-time Olympic medallist. Twenty four shots later, and for the second time in as many weeks, Phogat proved that her sharp rise was no fluke.
The 18-year-old from Haryana’s Jhajjar district followed her gold medal in Buenos Aires with another top finish, overcoming a strong charge from Bhaker, among others. “It doesn’t matter who I am shooting against. For me, the only competition is with myself,” she would later say.
Phogat shot a solid 243.6 — bookended by rather sub-par 9.7s — followed by Bhaker (242.3) and China’s upcoming 20-year-old Yao Qianxun (219.5). The other Chinese in the eight-shooter final, 19-year-old Yufei Meng, led the field after first 10 shots but two ordinary scores in the third sequence pushed her down.
The opening was enough for Phogat to barge in and nail a nerveless 10.4 and 10.6 to take the pole. Placed fourth after 12 hits, Bhaker raised her game in the next two-shot series, firing 10.7 and 10.3 to surge to the second place, and the two Indians held on to their standings till the final shot of the match. The high-quality duel between the reigning superstar of Indian shooting and the upcoming challenger was a sight to savour.
Shooting with ruthless efficiency, Phogat was unstoppable after taking the lead, and kept increasing the gap with every shot. Bhaker pursued gamely but Phogat kept finding the 10s consistently. Of her last ten shots, only twice did Phogat shoot less than 10. Bhaker was not too bad -- her last ten shots had two perfect 10.9s.
The result is a fair reflection of Phogat’s growing stocks in Indian shooting. After bagging three gold medals across senior, junior and youth categories at the national championships in December-January, Phogat shot a gold at the National Games in February, beating Asian Games champion Palak Gulia and the seasoned Rahi Sarnobat.
For Bhaker, Phogat’s rise must serve a gentle reminder of her own days as a teenager when she took the baton from the experienced Heena Sidhu and won nine gold medals at the national championships in 2017.
A botched campaign at the Tokyo Olympics was duly redeemed in Paris last year where she ended India’s 12-year wait for an Olympic medal in shooting while becoming the first athlete of independent India to win multiple individual medals at a single edition of the Games.
While Bhaker has been phenomenally grounded post her success and has been training with long-time coach Jaspal Rana, she would know that she now has the proverbial target on her back, more so on domestic ranges. In Palak, Esha Singh, Rhythm Sangwan, and Phogat, India is blessed with a bustling talent pool in women’s pistol events — both 10m and 25m — each of who would certainly view outperforming a double Olympic medallist as a major validation of their prowess. The by-product of this competition is the improvement of the overall level of sport, something that Indian athletics witnessed briefly after the success of Neeraj Chopra in javelin.
Bhaker appreciates the challenge at hand. “The youngsters are very good. Suruchi shot very well today. She did very well in Buenos Aires as well. I hope I keep my level up to match theirs,” she told ISSF after her final.
The challenge for Phogat will be to keep her hot streak going. Challenges will be aplenty, from quality competition to managing fitness and understanding the peaking process. Success also brings a sense of expectation, and not every athlete is equipped to handle that. Phogat doesn’t have to look too far beyond the shooting range for inspiration.
While Bhaker managed to hold her own after the Tokyo debacle and slowly and humbly clawed her way back, the prodigious Saurabh Chaudhary lost her way. With Chaudhary finally winning a World Cup medal after over three years and Bhaker and Phogat making it an Indian 1-2 at the Las Palmas range, things are looking up for India’s pistol shooting, more so with the Asian and World Championships lined up later this year.
