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Indian shooting prodigy Manu Bhaker sealed her quota for the 2024 Paris Olympics on Saturday with her remarkable show at the 15th Asian Shooting Championship in Changwon, South Korea.
The Haryana-based shooter finished fifth in the women's 25m pistol event with a score of 24, though she topped the qualification round with 591-27X. China's Liu Rui won the event after accumulating 37 points, with Iranian Haniyeh Rostamiyan falling just one point short of the Chinese to secure second spot.
The 21-year-old Manu Bhaker confirmed India's 11th quota in shooting for the Paris Olympics, which starts just nine months from today on 26 July 2024. In fact, this was the first quota place for India in the women's 25m pistol event.
Manu is the fifth women shooter from the country to book her place in the prestigious event, after Mehuli Ghosh, Sift Kaur Simra, Rajeshwari Kumari and Tilottama Sen.
This will be the youngster's second Olympics appearance after her initial participation in three events at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 - 10m air pistol, women's 25m air pistol and mixed 10m air pistol.
The then teenager went through a weapon malfunction during the women's 10m air pistol qualification, which turned out to be a major talking point at the quadrennial event.
Manu Bhaker's achievements at a young age
Manu Bhaker has played sports like tennis, skating and boxing during her school days. It was at the age of 14 when she decided to try a hand in shooting.
She won nine gold medals at the 2017 National Shooting Championship, including a significant gold in women's 10m air pistol, where she stunned former Olympian and world number 3, Heena Sidhu. Manu shot a record total of 242.3 to beat Heena's record of 240.8 achieved in the same year.
It didn't take much time for the talented shooter to shine on the international scene as she won gold medal in the women's 10m air pistol event on her debut at the 2018 ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico and became the youngest Indian to win gold at the tournament.
She won India's first gold medal in shooting at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the women's 10m air pistol event. She finished with a score of 240.9 to set a new Commonwealth Games record in the respective category.
In the recent Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China, Manu Bhaker won the gold medal in the women's 25m team event along with Rhythm Sangwan and Esha Singh.
