The Indian duo of Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh created history, capturing the country’s maiden bronze medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event at the Paris 2024 Olympics. This medal marked India’s sixth Olympic medal in shooting and their first-ever in a team event; besides, Manu Bhaker became the first athlete from independent India to win two medals at one Olympics.
The duo showed up at the National Shooting Center in Chateauroux, whence they put the Republic of Korea’s Oh Ye Jin and Wonho Lee to bay 16-10 in the bronze medal match. Oh Ye Jin had earlier won the gold in the women’s 10m air pistol event.
Manu Bhaker scored 10.2 with her opening shot in the beginning of the match. Even though Sarabjot Singh’s 8.6 on his first shot put India behind by two points, he made up for that with impressive scores of 10.5, 10.4, and 10. The comeback was significant as it helped India take the next six points. Manu Bhaker kept up her act, hitting at least a 10 on her first seven shots. Though the South Korean team fought back into contention, the last few shots went in favor of India to seal the victory.
Key Highlights
This was a monumental event for India in several ways:
- First team medal in shooting for India.
- Manu Bhaker became the first athlete from independent India to win two medals in a single Olympic edition.
- Bhaker was also the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal in shooting.
Manu Bhaker has firmly etched her name in the annals of Indian sports history as she has become the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal in shooting and the first athlete to win two medals in a single Olympics. Her statement, “The first medal was really good and again the fight was really tough,” tells one about the intensity of the competition and her resilience.
Of the 26 shots the Indian team shot in the match, 19 hit a minimum score of 10 to clearly point out their consistency and precision. The South Korean team could only manage 12 shots with a minimum score of 10 in the final to underline the quality of the competition.
It wasn’t an easy way to the bronze medal contest. Bhaker and Singh ended the qualifying round in third place standing behind leaders of Turkiye’s Sevval Ilayda Tarhan-Yusuf Dikec and Serbia’s Zorana Arunovic-Damir Mikec. The latter won gold, beating Turkiye 16-14 in a nail-biting final.
India’s two medals in shooting at the Paris 2024 Olympics are reminiscent of their performance at the London 2012 Olympics when Gagan Narang and Vijay Kumar brought home the medals. India had tough times in the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics as no medals came through from shooting. In effect, this is a great comeback at Paris.
Manu Bhaker is due to contest the women’s 25m pistol — starting on Friday — and she still remains the only athlete among this 21-member Indian shooting team who’s featuring in two individual events at these Olympics.
In the men’s trap qualification round, Prithviraj Tondaiman ended up 21st after returning with an aggregate score of 118/125 across five rounds. That did not get him one of the places in the six-man final.
In the women’s trap, Rajeshwari Kumari and Shreyasi Singh ended day one in 21st and 22nd places with rounds of 68 each.
Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh’s win in the bronze medal has been proof of their hard work, skill, and dedication. This win is not only going to add to India’s medal count but also set up a different bar for upcoming athletes in times to come. It was an eventful journey—fiery competition and remarkable comebacks have finally turned out historic for Indian sports.
