CHATEAUROUX:History-makingManu Bhakerended her Paris Olympics 2024 campaign with a fourth finish in the 25m sports pistol, an event where she had won several international medals. Overall, it was a praiseworthy finish for the 22-year-old from Haryana, who became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic shooting medal, here, at Paris 2024.
From clinching the 10m air pistol bronze last Sunday, then finishing third in the mixed team 10m air pistol finals alongside Sarabjot Singh to a heart-breaking finish on Saturday, here, at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre, it has been a roller-coaster ride for Bhaker, playing her second straight Olympics after Tokyo 2020.
“My head is completely blank right now. I have gone through a lot of emotions this entire week and my coach (Jaspal Rana) had prepared me for all the highs and lows that I would face here at Paris 2024,” Bhaker said, adding: “I have no regrets and at the end of it all, I think I did my best.”
The 25m air pistol finals are contested over 10 series of five shots each. This rapid fire, hit and miss event is perhaps one of the most exciting in the Olympics programme. Elimination starts after the fourth series. Bhaker made a sedate start but moved up to second after the third series. Finding the bull’s eye (perfect score) is key and Bhaker was facing serious challenges from Korea’s Jin Yang, Camile Jedrzejewski of France and Hungarian Veronika Major.
Among the eight who lined up for the final, USA were the first to be eliminated. Vietnam, Iran and China followed in that order. For several fans and the 50-odd bleary-eyed Indian journalists, who travelled by a 5.37 am train to Chateauroux, close to 300km away from Paris, Bhaker not finishing with a hat-trick of Olympic medals was disappointing. As one found out once again, there are no guarantees in sport.
Bhaker had raised the bar of expectations for a medal in the 25m sports pistol event, given her pedigree and accolades won globally. The Hangzhou Asian Games champion had finished second in the qualifiers and looked confident going into the finals at Chateauroux.
In the elimination rounds, it got tighter as the event progressed. Bhaker tied with Jedrzejewski of France for the second and third spots in the sixth and seventh series. At that stage, Korea’s Yang had a slender one-point lead at the top. In the eighth series that would decide the fourth elimination, Bhaker shot just two perfect scores out of five shots and tied with Major on 28 points each. The shoot-off followed and the Hungarian got the better of the Indian in a cliff-hanger. Major had four perfects against Bhaker’s three.
“Maybe I erred in my concentration,” confessed Bhaker, adding that the Paris Olympics have been a great learning curve and “the highs and lows will give more confidence going forward”.
Major, who finally finished with the bronze behind Yang (gold) and Jedrzejewski (silver), said: “During the shoot-off, I was only focused on my target because there was a lot of pressure at that moment. It becomes a matter of life and death and then I have to focus on my technique rather than the scoreboard.”
The face-off for the gold could not have seen a better ending. France eyed their first shooting medal at Paris 2024 but the Korean denied that. Both Yang and Jedrzejewski finished level on 37 points and in the tie-breaker, the Korean scored four perfects against one by the French.
The shotgun competition is not going great for the Indians. There was no one from India in the men’s skeet finals on Saturday. Ironically, the world record is held by an Indian, Angad Bajwa. At the end of Day 1 in the women’s skeet qualification, Maheshwari Chauhan was lying eighth and Raiza Dhillon 25th. The top six make the finals on Sunday.
India’s last bet in the pistol division will see Anish Bhanwala and Vijayveer Sidhu play the 25m rapid fire qualifiers on Sunday. Monday (August 5) is the last day of the shooting competition at the Paris Olympics.