India's shining star at the Paris Olympics, Manu Bhaker, will be the country's flag bearer at the closing ceremony, as per reports. The news agency ANI reported that IOC sources confirmed that Bhaker, who won two bronze medals at the Paris Games, will be India's female flagbearer at the closing ceremony on August 11 while her male counterpart is yet to be confirmed.
Bhaker, who participated in three events at the ongoing Olympics, won a bronze in women's individual 10m air pistol and another bronze in mixed team 10m air pistol with Sarabjot Singh but missed out on a medal in the 25m pistol event. Bhaker was in and around those medal positions but fell away after series 6 and 7 and had to go in for a shoot-off with the Hungarian Veronica Major and missed out on what would have been a historic treble for an Indian individual Olympian.
Bhaker became India's first athlete after independence to win two medals in a single edition of the Olympics. Norman Pritchard won two medals at the 1900 Olympics where he won a silver in men's 200m and 200m hurdles events.
Overall, Bhaker joined the likes of PV Sindhu and Sushil Kumar to win two Olympic medals. Sindhu won a badminton women's singles silver in the Rio Olympics in 2016 and bronze in Tokyo 2020 while wrestler Sushil won a bronze in the 2008 Beijing Games while clinching a Silver in the 2012 London Olympics.
Sindhu was India's flag bearer at the opening ceremony alongside Sharath Kamal. While Sindhu faced an exit in the Round of 16, Sharath was knocked out in the men's singles table tennis event but has a chance to make amends in the men's team event, which begins on Tuesday, August 6.
