Paris Olympics 2024: 'Just do your thing,' Manu Bhaker recalls how reading the Bhagavad Gita inspired her to win medal

Indian shooter Manu Bhaker on Sunday revealed how the Bhagavad Gita played a crucial role in helping her to clinch a medal at the ongoing Paris Olympics. Bhaker, 22, created history by becoming the first Indian woman shooter to win an Olympic medal, as she won bronze in the women’s 10m Air Pistol event in Paris. By doing so, she also became the fifth Indian shooter overall to win an Olympic medal.

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“Honestly, I read a lot of Gita. So what was going through my mind is just do what you are meant to do. Just do what you are supposed to do and just leave. Whatever the destiny, you can’t control the outcome of it. So in Gita Krishna says to Arjun that, you know, you focus on your karma and not on the outcome of the karma. So only that was running in my head. I was like ‘just do your thing, just do your thing and just let it all be’,” Bhaker told official broadcasters Sports18 after winning bronze.

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The Haryana-born athlete had suffered a heartbreak at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics three years ago after her pistol malfunctioned and eventually missed out on a medal back then. She had also missed out on the qualification mark in the mixed team 10m pistol and 25m pistol events which was a major setback.

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Bhaker recalled on the “surreal” experience of winning a medal for India at the Olympics. “Well, I feel great. And it was a long-due medal for India. I was just merely mode to do it. And India deserves more, even more medals, as many as possible. So we are looking forward to as many events as possible this time. And the entire team has worked really hard and personally, for me, the feeling is really surreal,” she said.

“I feel that I did a good job. I put in a lot of effort and even until the last one, I was just fighting with all energy that I had. And, um, this was a bronze. But I’m really grateful that I could win a bronze for India, maybe better next time,” added Manu.

On Sunday, Manu scored 221.7 points in the final that was held at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in Paris. She faced struggles initially, but recovered well to finish third, behind South Korea shooters Oh Ye Jin and Kim Ye-Ji.

Manu Bhaker’s mother Sumedha was overwhelmed with her daughter’s bronze medal win in Paris and was looking forward to welcoming her back home.

“I am really happy with the love people have shown for Manu. I would like to thank the people. I am eagerly waiting for her to return home,” Sumedha told CNN News18.

Manu’s mother was thankful to her daughter’s coach Jaspal Rana for helping her overcome her struggles. After splitting up over “irreconciable differences” in the build-up of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, the two reunited ahead of the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year. “Jaspal sir helped Manu a lot,” Sumedha added.

She added that she wanted Manu to become a doctor but that changed once Manu began shooting at the shooting range back in her hometown of Jhajjar. “I wanted Manu to become doctor first. Manu started shooting range in school in Jhajjar. Anil Jakhar was her first coach. He told us that she will really do well in shooting,” added her mother.

The proud mother of the young Olympic shooter said that she has several medals won by Manu in her house. She also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the state government and the central government for their support. “I have so many medals of Manu in our house,” she said. “I would like to thank the PM, state government and central government for their support,” Sumedha commented.