It is tough being Manu Bhaker. Not only is she one of the most talented pistol shooters in the country, but is one of those who despite doing well in the qualification events, ends up not clinching the gold medal, for one reason or the other. If one were to point out a singular reason, pistol malfunction would come to the fore, which has cost the youngster some of the biggest medals of her career.
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History Repeats Itself
On Wednesday, once again Manu, after shooting 590 in the qualification event of women’s 25m pistol at the Asian Games, had to be content with a fifth-place finish only due to a pistol malfunction during the final. The way she shot in the prior round, she could have pocketed a gold medal for the country, with perhaps a WORLD RECORD as well. But in competitive sports, there is hardly any room for ifs and buts.
Having said that, it’s not the first time that something of this sort has happened with Manu. In fact, there were two other similar incidents that robbed the 21-year-old of a medal. Back in 2019, at the World Cup final in Munich, Manu suffered a pistol malfunction during the sixth series, when she was in the joint lead of the women’s 25m pistol event with Rahi Sarnobat. She was left in tears, with then coaches, Simon Pavel and Samresh Jung by her side. Sarnobat went on to take the gold, as well as the Olympic quota.
Cut to the Tokyo Olympics, Manu was participating in the qualifying event of the 10m pistol event, when a pistol malfunction dashed the hopes of a medal. She scored a poor 575 from her 60 shots. In the first 10, after scoring 98, Manu started experiencing trouble with her weapon. Coach Ronak Pandit found out that the lever of the pistol was broken, causing problems for Manu. The jury too only allowed the damaged part to be replaced. In all that, the shooter had lost a valuable six minutes, and eventually, did not make it to the finals.
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