India’s first gold medal in shooting at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games came from 16-year-old Manu Bhaker on Sunday, as she broke the Commonwealth Games record for women’s 10m Air Pistol shooting.
The teenager comfortably won the gold, while India’s shooting champion Heena Sidhu secured silver in the event.
Bhaker's calm and composure belied her age as she shot 240.9, while Sidhu managed only 234.
Bhaker had topped the qualification round earlier in the day, scoring 388, another Commonwealth Games record.
However, this teenage sensation is not alien to breaking records and clinching gold medals on the international stage.
Having picked up shooting just two years back (in 2016), the kind of success Bhaker has witnessed in the past few months is monumental.
Even her father said Manu was in the habit of never returning empty-handed from any competition.
It is easy to boast after a win. But the truth is, she never returned empty-handed from any tournament, whether it be the school or national level.Ramkishan Bhaker, Manu’s Father
Nine Golds in December’s National Championship
Just a year after she picked up a pistol for the first time, Manu had made enough of a mark to be noticed in the Indian junior circuit. However, it was her performance in the 61st National Championship in December that forced everyone to sit up and take notice.
A massive 15 medal haul, after all, would have been hard to ignore. But that wasn't all that Manu accomplished at the event: She also created a national record in the 10m air pistol event, breaking Olympian Heena Sidhu’s record of 240.8 points. Manu’s new record stands at 242.3.
While she finished on the podium in the senior events, Manu, only 16 at the time, also picked up laurels in the junior category – bagging golds in the women’s 10m air pistol, the junior women’s civilian air pistol, and the youth women’s air pistol individual event, along with the team gold in the National Championships.
The youngster won gold medals with new national records in all three categories — women, junior and youth — of the 10m Air Pistol at the 61st National Shooting Championship that were held in Thiruvananthapuram.
A month later, at the Khelo India games, she set two more junior national records!
Two Golds Each in Two World Cups
Bhaker further strengthened her foothold in the shooting scene with a remarkable international debut at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Mexico’s Guadalajara last month, with two golds in 10m air pistol mixed team event as well as individual women’s 10m air pistol, where she defeated big names like Rio Olympics gold medallist Anna Korakaki, silver medallist in London Celine Goberville, and Heidi Gerber, a bronze medallist in Rio.
The women’s 10m air pistol gold at the ISSF World Cup made her the youngest Indian shooter to take the top prize in a World Cup.
A few days later, Bhaker bagged two golds again in the Junior ISSF World Cup in Sydney. She bagged gold in individual 10m Air Pistol Women Junior event as well as 10m mixed team Air Pistol event, adding to her impressive streak.
(With inputs from IANS, ESPN, and ISSF.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)