How life changes! The Paris Olympic Games is turning out to be a memorable one for pistol shooter Manu Bhaker. Twenty-four hours after she won an Olympic Games bronze in the 10m air pistol, Manu — with Sarabjot Singh as her partner — is primed for her second bronze.
In the qualification round of the 10m air pistol mixed team event at the Chateauroux shooting range on Monday, Manu and Sarabjot missed out on the gold medal match by a point. They will be up against the Korean mixed duo of Oh Ye Jin and Lee Wonho. Oh won the gold medal at Manu’s event on Sunday with an Olympic record score.
Manu was brilliant in the first two rounds but a blip in the third round pegged India back. However, a score of 580 was enough to take them to medal contention.
Arjun Babuta after finishing fourth in the 10m air rifle men's finals on Monday. AP/PTI
If the Indians win the duel with the South Koreans, Manu will become the first from the country to bag two medals at the same Games. Surely, quite a feat for someone who was vilified after the Tokyo debacle.
The other Indian pair of Rhythm Sangwan and Arjun Singh Cheema finished 10th with a score of 576 and failed to make it to the medal rounds.
India, with a record21 shooters in Paris, were fighting for two medals on the day — Ramita Jindal and Arjun Babuta in the women’s and men’s 10m air rifle events,respectively. Jindal finished seventh with a score of 145.3in a competition of the highest quality.
Babuta’s was the story of heartbreak. Finishing fourth on his debut, he could not hold back his tears. Chinese Sheng Lihao won the gold, Sweden’s Victor Lindgren took the silver medal followed by Croatian Miran Maricic (230). Babuta’s score was 208.4.
There was a fourth connection when Babuta imploded. Abhinav Bindra was at the range watching the 25-year-old in action and Joydeep Karmakar was doing the commentary for the official broadcaster from Mumbai. Karmakar had come fourth in the 50m rifle prone 12 years ago in London and Bindra, thegold medal winner in Beijing, finished fourth at the Rio Olympic Games in the 10m airrifle event.
“He (Bindra) told me that fourth place would make me stronger and that it was important to move on,” Babuta said later.
“It was not my day. It is very hard to deal with fourth. It is the worst place to finish. It is disheartening,” Babuta rued.
“Keep pushing, keep believing. The entire nation stands behind you,” Bindra wrote on X.
Karmakar said with age on his side, Babuta should be able to deal with this.
“I was 35 in London. So I am carrying the pain of being fourth throughout my life. If Babuta becomes emotional with the fourth, then he will not be able to qualify for any final again. He has to start afresh without any baggage,” Karmakar told The Telegraph from Mumbai.
The other Indian shooter in action on Monday, Prithviraj Tondaiman, was ranked 30th after the first day of the men’s trap qualification round.