Manu Bhaker was trolled for failing at the Tokyo Olympics, when she was just 19. Now at 22, her bronze medal which opened India’s account at the Paris Olympics, completes the tale of inspirational push-back of a young woman against those who nearly drove her out of the sport. Considered a hot-headed teen who spoke her mind but couldn’t walk the talk, by medalling at her first Olympics, Manu showed the world just how steely her nerves could be with India’s first shooting medal in 12 years. She slotted in a commanding 10.5 and 10.4 on the crucial shots in the final — where male shooters have regularly choked and missed out on medals in previous editions. In the process, she became India’s first female shooting medalist.
At Tokyo, there had been a televised meltdown as her pistol malfunctioned. Because she was hyped as a prodigy, the knives were sharpened even more. Compounding matters, the failure precipitated a public fallout with her coach, Jaspal Rana. Rana had heartbreakingly never had a chance to win his own Olympic medal, and funneled all his energy into training youngsters, keeping them on a tight leash with his stern methods. Manu let the dust settle and returned to a coach who with his harsh words but brilliant technical nous gave her a direction. Books, the Bhagavad Gita, playing the violin and painting calmed her down as she learnt to look failure in the eye.
Manu was inspired by the resilience of M C Mary Kom. In becoming India’s first female medalist, the youthful bronze winner also paid homage to the journeys of predecessors and world champions Anjali Vedpathak, Suma Shirur, Tejaswini Sawant, Heena Sidhu and Rahi Sarnobat. As she inspires more youngsters to get into shooting, Manu Bhaker is also likely to become the face of responsible regulation of weapons, an essential for this sport.
