Manu Bhaker, a prominent women’s pistol shooter and Olympian, is competing in the women’s 25m pistol event at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Born in Jhajjar, Haryana, a state renowned for its boxers and wrestlers, she developed a passion for sports during her school years, participating in tennis, skating, and boxing. She also excelled in a martial art called ‘thang ta,’ winning medals at the national level.
At the age of 14, shortly after the 2016 Rio Olympics, Manu decided to explore shooting and quickly became passionate about it. Within a week, she asked her father, Ram Kishan Bhaker, to buy her a sports shooting pistol to practice, setting the stage for her journey to become an Olympian.
In 2017, during the national shooting championships, Manu Bhaker made headlines by defeating Olympian Heena Sidhu. She set a record score of 242.3 in the 10m Air Pistol final, surpassing Sidhu’s previous record.
She then won a silver medal at the 2017 Asian Junior Championships. The following year, Manu made a grand entry onto the international stage, solidifying her reputation as a rising star in shooting.
At the 2018 Asian Games, she achieved a game’s record score of 593 in the qualification round of the 25m Air pistol event. Despite her impressive performance, she missed out on a medal, finishing 6th in the final.
Later that year, during the 2018 Youth Olympics, Manu shot 236.5 to secure the top position in the women’s 10m air pistol event. At the age of 16, Manu became the first Indian shooter and the first female athlete from India to win a gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games.
Coached by pistol shooter Jaspal Rana, Bhaker achieved a score of 240.8 in the Olympic Selection Trials T4 10m air pistol final at the Madhya Pradesh State Shooting Academy, finishing well ahead of Hangzhou Asian Games champion Palak by a substantial 4.4 points.