Paris Olympics 2024: Manu Bhaker Rewrites History After Being Pushed To Brink In Tokyo

Paris, the ‘City of Love’, just keeps giving to Manu Bhaker as she became the first shooter in Indian sporting history to win two medals from single Olympic Games. Manu Bhaker on Tuesday (July 30) added a bronze medal in the mixed team 10m air pistol event at the Paris Olympics 2024 with Sarabjot Singh to add to her bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol event on Sunday. 

Manu and Sarabjit’s sensational effort doubled India’s medal tally at the Paris Olympics 2024 as the shooters are the only medal-winners so far in these Games. The Haryana shooter, who made her debut as a 19-year-old at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, almost walked away from the sport three years back after a weapon malfunction cost her a chance at winning medal three years back. 

This is India’s first-ever medal from the mixed team event as well. Manu has also become the first-ever Indian athlete from any discipline to win two medals at a single Olympic Games post independence. Manu now has a chance to go for the hat-trick as he sets her sight on the women’s 25m air pistol event. 

Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh combined to defeat South Korean team 16-10 in the bronze medal playoff in the 10m air pistol mixed team event. After the low of Tokyo Olympics, Manu Bhaker revealed that she had turned to scriptures and started reading Bhagwad Gita for mental preparation ahead of the Paris Olympic Games. 

“I have become religious after Tokyo but not in an extreme way (laughs). I believe that there is an energy that guides us and protects us. And there is an aura around us that feeds on that energy. I think there should be some faith in God who has created us,” Bhaker revealed after winning her first bronze in the individual event on Sunday. 

BRONZE !!
India wins in the mixed team 10m air pistol as @realmanubhaker & @Sarabjotsingh30 bt Korea’s Oh Ye Jin & Lee Won Ho 16-10 in the bronze match. Second medal for Manu at the Games. History!#Paris2024 #IndianShooting #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/5HNJlPwIEl

— NRAI (@OfficialNRAI) July 30, 2024

It was probably the Bhagwad Gita which kept Manu grounded as she faltered for the first time on her 8th shot when she hit 8.3 after a series of shots well above 10. But when Manu stumbled, Sarabjot was there to steady the ship as he shot 10.2 to prop up his partner. 

Manu had earlier revealed that it was words of her coach and former India Olympian Jaspal Rana which prevented her from walking away from the sport three years back. “I think the turning point for me was in 2023 when my coach asked me what I wanted to do in my life and I told him ‘I don’t know, I’ll probably leave shooting in a year or two and maybe go abroad for further studies’ or maybe attempt for the Services’. But he told me, ‘I think you are one of the best shooters not just in the country but the world so it’s you who have to decide what you want to do in life’, That motivated me,” Manu told reporters in Paris. 

Sarabjot hails from Dheen village of Ambala, Haryana. He is the son of Jatinder Singh, a farmer and Hardeep Kaur, a homemaker. He studied at DAV College, Chandigarh and trains under coach Abhishek Rana. 

Sarabjot Singh saw a few kids wielding air guns at a makeshift range during a summer camp. He was 13 then and wanted to become a footballer. But the sight of kids aiming at paper targets with pistols didn’t leave his mind. In 2014, he went to his father and said, ‘Dad, I want to pursue shooting’. His father Jitender Singh, a farmer, told his son that the sport is pretty expensive. But eventually, Sarabjot insisted for months to play shooting and he won the Gold medal at Junior World Championship, Suhl in 2019. 

Sarabjot won two medals at the 2022 Asian Games – a gold in the team event and a silver medal in the mixed team event as well.