India's shooter Manu Bhaker has created history becoming the first-ever Indian after independence to win two medals in a single Olympic Games. Norman Pritchard had won two medals at the 1900 Olympics and since then, no Indian athlete had achieved this feat before Manu secured her second bronze at the Paris Olympics in the 10m air pistol mixed team event. She had earlier secured bronze in the individual event as well.
Manu had missed the silver medal by just 0.1 point in that event but by winning yet another medal, she has more than made up for it. For the unversed, Manu Bhaker won this bronze medal with Sarabjot Singh in a mixed team event beating the South Korean duo of Oh Ye Jin and Lee Wonho by 16-10. Notably, Korea's Oh Ye Jin won the gold medal in the same event where Manu secured bronze on Sunday (July 28).
Coming back to the match, Manu shot her best score of 10.7 in the second round itself and remained consistently above 10 and 10.5 throughout missing the mark of 10 only thrice in 13 shots. Her partner Sarabjot also matched her effort staying above 10 in most shots as the duo managed to win eight rounds of shots before the Korean team who won five rounds.
"I'm feeling really proud and there is a lot of gratitude, thanks for all the blessings. Actually, we can't control (what the rivals will do), we can do what is in our hands, me and my partner thought let's just try our best and we will keep fighting till the end," Bhaker said after winning her second bronze medal at the Paris Olympics 2024.
"I put in a lot of effort; I was fighting with all the energy I had, even at the end. This is a bronze but I'm happy I could win a bronze for the country. I read a lot of Gita. As Lord Krishna says, focus on karma, not on the outcome of the karma. That's what I did... I thought, do your thing and let it all be. After Tokyo I was very disappointed however, I came back stronger. Let the past remain in the past," Bhaker had earlier said after winning bronze last week.
