Manu Bhaker Becomes First Indian Women to Win Olympic Medal in Shooting with Bronze in Women’s 10m Air Pistol

Manu Bhaker won the bronze medal in the women’s 10m air pistol event at Paris 2024 on Sunday, becoming the first Indian woman to win an Olympic shooting medal. This achievement marks India's fifth Olympic medal in shooting and the first medal in any sport at Paris 2024.

India had previously won shooting medals at three consecutive Olympics from Athens 2004 to London 2012 but did not secure any in the subsequent two editions. The 22-year-old Bhaker scored 221.7 to finish third in the eight-woman final.

Oh Ye Jin of the Republic of Korea clinched the gold medal with a new Olympic record of 243.2. Her compatriot Yeji Kim, who narrowly surpassed Bhaker, won the silver with a final score of 241.3. Bhaker had a strong start in the final, achieving a score of 50.4 in the first series to secure second place.

Nevertheless, a pair of 9.6 scores in the second round caused her to drop to third place, trailing behind Oh Ye Jin and Yeji Kim. Bhaker regained the second position from Yeji Kim at the end of the third series and once again in the final stages, but the South Korean edged past her by 0.1 point to enter the gold medal round.

Manu expressed her determination, stating she put all her effort into staying focused until the last second. She mentioned that despite the competition being neck-and-neck and losing the silver by 0.1 points, she felt grateful to win the bronze for India.

At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Bhaker was on course to qualify for the final in the same event but a pistol malfunction caused her to lose six precious minutes, resulting in her missing the final by just two points.

India’s first Olympic medal in shooting was won by Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore with a silver at Athens 2004 in the men’s double trap. Abhinav Bindra clinched India's sole gold medal in shooting by winning the men's 10m air rifle event at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

On Saturday, Bhaker stormed into the final of the women’s 10m air pistol event after finishing third in the qualifying round, becoming the first Indian woman to make an Olympic shooting final in 20 years. Veronika Major of Hungary, who topped the qualifying round, was the first to be eliminated in the final.

Manu Bhaker will also compete in the 10m air pistol mixed team event on Monday and the women’s 25m pistol event starting on Friday. She is the lone athlete from the 21-member Indian shooting team taking part in multiple individual events.

Ramita Jindal and Arjun Babuta secured spots in the finals of the women's 10m air rifle and men's 10m air rifle events earlier. Ramita, who won bronze at the Asian Games last year, shot 631.5 to finish fifth in the qualifying round.

South Korea’s Hyojin Ban topped the qualification round with a record score of 634.5. Elavenial Valarivan finished 10th with a score of 630.7, narrowly missing the qualification by 0.6 points. In the men's 10m air rifle event, Arjun Babuta scored 630.1 in the qualification series for seventh place.