Young Haryana pistol shooter Manu Bhaker narrowly failed in her endeavour to scoop up a third bronze from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games today when she finished fourth in the 25metre women’s event.
Manu lost to her Hungarian rival Veronika Major 3-4 in the five-shot bronze shoot-off after both competitors were tied at 28 points each after the eighth series (five shots in each series) in the elimination stage of the competition held at the Chatearoux range.
The 22-year-old Jhajjar-born Indian pistol wielder missed the third and fourth shots in the five-shot ninth series shoot-off while her Hungarian opponent missed only the third shot.
Manu, thus, was credited with a total score of 28 in the final while Veronika took the bronze with a tally of 31.
Yang Jiin of Korea clinched the gold by winning the title-deciding five-shot shoot-off against Games’ host France’s Camille Jedrzejewski after both were tied at 37.
Manu’s sequence of scores in the first three series of stage 1 were 2, 4 and 4. In the elimination stage, the Indian came up with scores of 3, 5, 4, 4 and 2 leading to the shoot-off with the Hungarian Veronika.
Manu would now return home with the two bronze medals she won in the 10metre air pistol individual and mixed pair (with Sarabjot Singh) events.
She had qualified for today’s final in second spot with a tally of 590 with 24 inner tens yesterday behind the eventual Korean gold medal winner.
Even today after the first stage comprising three series of 5 shots each, Manu stayed in second spot behind the Korean.
But she slipped to sixth after series 4 and then recovered poise to move up to third after series 5 and moved up to second after series six and maintained it till series seven.
She fell behind the Korean and eventual silver medalist Camille after the eighth series to be level with Veronika with whom she then had to fight for the bronze medal through the shoot-off.
After showing steely nerves in the 10m distance, Manu felt the pressure while hunting for her third medal of the Games.
“The match was a roller coaster for me. The beginning was not so great but eventually I caught up with the others. (But) the nerves got the better of me. Things did not go my way,” said Manu, who has won gold medals in the World Championships, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
Although she did not get a medal, it was better than not making it to the finals, according to Manu.
“Unfortunately it was a fourth (spot) finish, which is better than not making the final. There’s always going to be a next time. I have two medals. And lots of motivation to work on for the next time. I will work hard and try to give a better finish to India next time,” she declared.
“I got the quota place in 25 metre. I put in hard work in both 10m and 25m equally. I have been consistent in both, not like better in one (and not the other). The results have been a little less in 25m than in 10m,” she added.
She gave credit again to her coach Jaspal Rana with whom she had parted ways before the last Games in Tokyo and then joined hands again in the run-up to Paris 2024.
“My coach prepared me for this by following the exact pattern (in training) as in the Olympic Games. History is history. I live in the present. He does a great job in keeping me in the present.”