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(This story was first published in January of 2020. It is being republished as Manu Bhaker continues her campaign at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.)
At 14, she picked up a gun for the first time
At 16, she had become the undisputed Indian number 1 in the 10m air pistol event, broken multiple national records, beaten multiple Olympic medallists, won a Commonwealth Games gold and also become the youngest Indian to win golds at the shooting World Cup.
And, she qualified for the Tokyo Olympics an entire year before the event.
From 2016 to 2020, Manu Bhaker’s meteoric rise has been the stuff of dreams. But the last four years has also seen some big lows.
The Quint sat down with the young shooting star as she prepares for the biggest year of her young career. It’s Manu Bhaker’s success timeline – on this week’s spotlight.
All of 14, a young Manu had already excelled in a handful of sports. She was a state-level boxer, a three-time national champion in martial arts and a state-level kabaddi player, but there was something different about shooting that drew her to the sport.
“I chose shooting because it’s such a transparent sport. The amount of hard work you put into it, you achieve that much. Like kabaddi and kho-kho, they are team sports and if your team doesn’t perform well, you won’t be able to win. In shooting, I excelled real quick. It took me two months to win a medal in any open tournament,’ said Manu, as she shared a clear thought process that went into her choosing this sport over the many others she excelled in.
Just 17 months after picking a gun for the first time, Manu rubbed shoulders with Heena Sidhu, the Indian star in her event. While Heena, 27, was still the big draw in the senior category, winning the gold, Manu, just 15, bagged the gold in the junior category with a better score than Heena’s in the senior category. She shot a 239 while Heena won her gold with a score of 238.9.
A 15-year-old Manu had tasted success but what she pulled off at the 2017 National Shooting Championships may indeed be a record for the ages. The quiet girl from Haryana won a total of 15 medals, including nine golds, and broke multiple national records.
Also, she had beat the legend in her category, Heena Sidhu.
The 2018 Shooting World Cup in Mexico announced Manu on the global stage. Making her debut at 16, she beat a power-packed field, which included former champion Alejandra Zavala as well as multiple Olympic medalists to win her first World Cup gold. In the final, it came down to Manu and Zavala, a stalwart who had in fact been shooting competitively since four years before Manu was even born.
“I was hoping for a medal, definitely, because until then, in any sport, I hadn’t lost any match. So I was very confident that I will definitely win it. But when I saw the qualification board, the top eight shooters had Olympic medals and World Cup medals, they were world number 1 and world number 2. I was on the fifth or sixth position. Then I realised, this is not easy. I was nervous about that. I was like, I will try my best and whatever comes, I will accept it. Then I gradually won it and I felt so happy,” says Manu while breaking down her experience at her first World Cup.
While speaking to Manu during this interview, it also became clear that what worked for her could be the bubble the young shooter chooses to stay in.
Shooting wasn’t a sport she followed all her life, her competitors weren’t legends she had watched growing up. So, as it turned out, it was easy standing next to them and beating these world beaters.
All at just the age of 16.
So now, at just 16, two years after her journey as a shooter began, Manu Bhaker had become a national champion with a national record a World Cup winner, having beaten multiple Olympic medalists and next up was the 2018 Commonwealth Games where she continued her winning run, setting a Games record on her way to the gold.
Leading an Indian 1-2 on the podium, she also became the youngest Indian to win a Commonwealth Games gold for the country.
Where there is success, there will be controversy and setbacks and Manu found herself in the middle of one when Heena Sidhu, the former world number one in the 10m air pistol event, alleged that the Federation was ‘favouring the favourites’ by letting Manu compete in three events at the 2018 Asian Games.
Did it influence her performance? Being pulled down by a shooter she would’ve looked up to? Can’t really say – but Manu suffered her career’s first major setback at the Asiad, failing to win a medal in each of the three events. In fact, in the 25m event, she shot a games record in the qualifying round but crumbled in the final, to eventually finish sixth.
And what a recovery she made!
Just two months later, at the Youth Olympics Manu held the lead in the 10m air pistol event straight from the qualifying round and right to the podium to become the first Indian woman to win a gold at the Youth Olympics.
Year 2019, though, was a different kind of year for Manu.
While on the individual front she failed to finish on the podium at any of the World Cups all year round, she partnered with another teenage star, Saurabh Chaudhary, to sweep the mixed team gold medals in each of the World Cups last season. That’s four World Cup golds.
And while speaking to Manu about their partnership, I realised they sort of have a different kind of winning formula.
On an individual front, Manu also booked a spot at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with her fourth-place finish at the Munich World Cup in May.
There was, however, some heartbreak in the 25m event, which she was quick to recover from.
Still just 17, and with the Olympic qualification pressure off her shoulders, Manu regained old momentum and finished off the 2019 season with 2 gold medals at the season-ending World Cup finals, including one in her favourite event, the 10m air pistol.
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