Manu Bhaker finishes fourth in 25m pistol final at Paris Olympics

Manu Bhaker suffered a heartbreaking exit in the women’s 25m pistol final on Saturday (August 3) at the Paris Olympics. In a shoot-off for the third place, the 22-year-old didn’t get the desired score to edge Veronika Major of Hungary to stay out of podium places.

With Bhaker shooting a score of two points in the fifth elimination series, it warranted a shoot-off with Hungary’s Major. Both were tied on 28 points at this stage.

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In the shoot-off of five attempts, Bhaker got three accurate hits to Major’s four to bow out of medal contention.

The disappointment was evident on Bhaker’s face as she made her way to the bench with the shooter missing out on creating history.

“I was very nervous in the final. There is always the next time and I’m looking forward to it,” she told broadcaster JioCinema. “I got nervous about it. I was trying my best to keep calm and tried to do my best but not enough,” she added.

Bhaker, 22, had already made history by becoming the first Indian athlete to win two bronze medals in one edition of the quadrennial showpiece.

All three of India’s medal at Paris Olympics have come in shooting, with Bhaker clinching two and Swapnil Kusale taking the other, a bronze in 50m rifle three-positions.

Bhaker, who has seen a marked improvement in her shooting after working with legendary shooter-turned-coach Jaspal Rana, had won the 10m women’s air pistol bronze and 10m air pistol mixed team bronze alongside Sarabjot Singh.

Interestingly, just after winning her second bronze medal, in 10m air pistol mixed team event, Bhaker had urged the country not to be “disappointed” if she can’t add more medals to the tally.

South Korea’s Jin Yang took the gold medal in women’s 25m pistol after a shoot-off with Camille Jedrzejewski of France. Both were locked at 37 points each at the conclusion of the final.

In the qualification round, played on Friday, Bhaker dominated the proceedings for the most part to finish second after the ‘precision’ and ‘rapid’ rounds. She aggregated 590 to stand second behind Hungary’s Veronika Major who equalled the Olympic record with a score of 592.

She was in impregnable form in qualification, firing 294 in the ‘precision’ round with scores of 97, 98 and 99.

The ‘rapid round’ brought out the best in her as she shot a perfect 100, followed by two 98s for a aggregate of 296.

Bhaker’s sterling performance in Paris has come after a failed campaign at the Tokyo Games in 2021 where a pistol malfunction stopped her from achieving her Olympic dream. She said that the heartbreak made her value the medals here even more.