Just 16 and making her international debut at the World Cup.
Manu Bhaker had quite a few odds stacked against her as she made the journey to Mexico last week. But the very way in which she booked her spot at the ISSF World Cup was reason enough for her followers to believe special things were going to follow.
And it did.
Manu will return to India this week, with two World Cup gold medals to her name, and also the accomplishment of being India’s top performer at the year’s first Shooting World Cup.
Two Golds in Two Days
Competing in the same category as Olympian Heena Sidhu’s, and having beaten her in the Nationals in 2017, Manu won her first gold on Sunday night in the 10m air pistol individual category.
Up against the best in the world, Bhaker found herself fighting for gold with local shooter Alejandra Zavala, a two-time World Cup Finals winner. Going into the final two shots, Zavala held a 1.9 lead over the Indian, but then she shot 8 in the next two shots. This was the opening Manu needed and she capitalised with an 8.5 and then closed out the win with a 10.6.
The 24-shot final saw India win the gold with a score of 237.5, Zavala ended at 237.1 while Celine Goberville of France won the bronze with a score of 217.0.
There was another top podium finish for her on Monday night as she teamed up with Om Prakash Mitharval to bag the 10m air pistol mixed team gold.
Following the initial qualification round, the Indian pair were placed second after shooting 770. The gold medal saw a tough fight between the Indian team, the German husband-wife pair of Christian and Sandra Reitz, who shot a world record score of 777, and France’s Celine Goberville and Florian Fouquet.
At the final shot, it was the Indians and Germans fighting for gold with the German team ahead by 0.1. However, Bhaker and Om Prakash held onto their nerves and closed out the win with a 476.1 to 475.2 scoreline.
Shooter By Chance
Manu’s two World Cup golds will seem even more relevant when one is told she picked up the sport only two years ago. And that too by chance.
The young star dabbled with boxing, skating, martial arts and even tennis, winning laurels, both at the national and international levels. However, shooting is what finally caught her fancy when, at the age of 14, her father took her to the range and asked her to try her hand at the sport. Her shots found the centre of the target, and a champion had found her true calling.
She has a natural talent for sports. She picks up a new sport quite easily. But her problem is that she used to get bored rather quickly and would give up. Also, there have been times when she felt that she had been handed a raw deal in a tournament. After that she would stop playing that sport. She feels that shooting is the perfect sport for her. No one can manipulate the results. It’s a transparent sport.Ramkishan Bhaker, Manu’s father
The story since has been pretty much a fairy tale for the Haryana native. Regular performances in the junior level saw her as an emerging champion, but she really burst onto the scene when she bagged a massive total of 15 medals, including nine Golds, at the 61st National Shooting Championship last December.
One of those Gold medals was won beating Olympian and celebrated Indian shooter Heena Sidhu in a final where the young Manu set a new national record.
Next up for the class 11 student from Jhajjar, Haryana are two major tournaments - the ISSF Junior World Cup in Sydney followed by the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April
"I am obviously delighted with the way my maiden outing in a senior world cup panned out, and I am now looking forward to the upcoming events. As always, I will look to give my best shot and win medals for my country," she told PTI.
(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.)