Not one, but Manu Bhaker has created history! She has become the only Indian athlete to win two medals in a single edition of Olympics. Her exploits came in Paris Olympics when she re-wrote the history books. She won the bronze in 10 m Air Pistol finals for women’s and then repeated it with Sarabjot Singh in the mixed finals.
Bhaker and Sarabjot narrowly missed out in qualifying for the gold medal match yesterday. But courtesy of finishing third, the duo sealed their place in the bronze match. The duo confidently won against their South Korean counterparts with a score line of 16-10 to bag India’s second bronze medal in Paris Olympics.
India’s Golden Girl!
What a comeback story it was been for the young 22-year old girl. The heartbreak of the Tokyo Olympics still haunts. She suffered an unfortunate pistol malfunction and had to retire from the finals despite leading the charts. 4 years later in Paris she did the unthinkable.
She first grabbed her bronze medal in the 10 m Air Pistol women’s round. In the qualifying she missed the gold medal fight via a minuscule margin of 0.1. The same happened in the mixed event qualifiers with Sarabjot Singh. The duo reached the bronze match and walked away with a win.
And with this, she has become the only Indian athlete to win 2 medals in a single edition of an Olympics. Interestingly, Udham Singh and Lesley Claudius tops the charts among Indians to win most Olympics medals – 4. But none has been able to match the prowess of this young shooter.
