Jhajjar (Haryana): Manu Bhaker’s journey from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics heartbreak to bringing home the country’s first medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics has been nothing short of historic as the 22-year-old became the first Indian women shooter to win a medal at the Games.
Manu’s father, Ram Kishan Bhaker, revealed that she contemplated whether she should quit shooting as a sport after the unfortunate event that took place with her in Tokyo.
“Manu was thinking about changing her sport (after her heartbreak in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics). This was her old habit, she previously came and told me that she wants to change her sport to karate after she won an honour in the nationals,” he told reporters at his residence.
Bhaker had previously suffered heartbreak in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics when a technical snag in her pistol due to a lever in the pistol being broken which was preventing the barrel from functioning smoothly, stole six precious minutes, putting her under pressure during the qualification event and led to her exit from the event.
Manu’s mother, Sumedha Bhaker went on to express and acknowledge the amount of hard work her daughter has put in ever since the Tokyo Games and how she sacrificed her family for her daughter’s success.
“I cannot express the amount of hard work Manu put in after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics into words. We, mother and daughter, have not been able to keep any family relations since 2018. They are all angry at me that I never meet them. I prayed to god to give me strength, to help Manu in being very successful and I knew once she achieves her goal, I can go and apologise to everyone,” Sumedha told reporters.
Ram Kishan Bhaker also went on to thank all those involved in his daughter’s success.
“The entire country is happy that Manu has opened the medals account for India. I want to thank the country for supporting her. She has received help from all around the country, including the Sports Minister, the federation, coach Jaspal Rana… all helped in boosting her confidence,” he added.
The 22-year-old from Jhajjar became the fifth Indian shooter to win an Olympic medal after Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (silver in 2004 in Athens), Abhinav Bindra (gold in 2008 in Beijing), and Vijay Kumar and Gagan Naran (2012 in London).
“Shooting, as a sport, needed this medal as there are around 20,000 players around the country including many in Haryana and I hope the sport reaches new heights,” her father said.
(IANS)
