Manu Bhaker joins list of unfortunate Indian athletes who missed out on Olympic bronze

When we talk about the Olympics, we discuss precision and accuracy, where winners are often decided by the barest of margins. Many athletes win medals by defeating opponents by a single point or half a mark. Conversely, there are many who lose by that small margin. It’s rightly said that a fourth-place finish feels like an injection without any cause, and it hurts. Recently, Manu Bhaker, who had a wonderful run by winning two bronze medals in the 10 m individual and mixed events, lost the 25 m final, ending up in fourth place.

This came as a shock to Indian viewers, as we were expecting another Manu Bhaker special. However, this is not the first time we have experienced such misfortune. Several Indian athletes in the past have come close to the final mark but lost their grip just before the finish line. Take a look at all the Indian athletes who finished fourth at the Olympics.

List of Indian athletes who have finished fourth at Olympics

Athletes	Olympics	Event
Randhir Shinde	Antwerp 1920 Olympics	men’s 54kg freestyle wrestling
Keshav Mangave	Helsinki 1952 Olympics	men’s 62kg freestyle wrestling
India	Melbourne 1956 Olympics	men’s football
Milkha Singh	Rome 1960 Olympics	men’s 400m athletics
Prem Nath	Rome 1972 Olympics	men’s 57kg freestyle wrestling
Sudesh Kumar	Munich 1972 Olympics	men’s 52kg freestyle wrestling
PT Usha	Los Angeles 1984 Olympics	women’s 400m hurdles athletics
Rajinder Singh	Los Angeles 1984 Olympics	men’s 74kg freestyle wrestling
. Leander Paes/Mahesh Bhupati	Athens 2004 Olympics	men’s doubles tennis
Kunjarani Devi	Athens 2004 Olympics	women’s 48kg weightlifting
Joydeep Karmakar	London 2012 Olympics	men’s 50m rifle prone shooting
. Abhinav Bindra	Rio 2016 Olympics	men’s 10m air rifle shooting
Sania Mirza/Rohan Bopanna	Rio 2016 Olympics	mixed doubles tennis
Dipa Karmakar	Rio 2016 Olympics	women’s vault gymnastics
Aditi Ashok	Tokyo 2020 Olympics	women’s golf
India	Tokyo 2020 Olympics	women’s hockey
. Arjun Babuta	Paris 2024 Olympics	men’s 10m air rifle shooting
Dhiraj Bommadevara	Paris 2024 Olympics	mixed team archery
Manu Bhaker	Paris 2024 Olympics	women’s 25m pistol

Abhinav Bindra, Rio 2016 Olympics

India’s gold medalist from the 2008 Olympics, Abhinav Bindra, reached the final of the men’s 10m air rifle event at the Rio 2016 Olympics but could not replicate his gold-medal performance. He ended up in fourth place after a shoot-off, scoring 10 while his rival, Serhiy Kulish of Ukraine, scored 10.5.

Manu Bhaker, Paris 2024 Olympics

In the latest addition, Manu Bhaker, the Indian shooting sensation who was on the cusp of history, missed out on a bronze medal in the women’s 25m pistol final. In her shoot-off against Veronika Major from Hungary, Bhaker fell short by a narrow margin, securing the fourth position. Major ultimately came third with 31 points. As mentioned earlier, Bhaker is enjoying a career high with two bronze medals in a single Olympics, and surely that loss will not diminish her achievements, as she is already on the verge of being known as a legend at the age of 22.

Chak De India Olympics Paris Olympics Manu Bhaker