Published 17:24 IST, July 27th 2024
India Seals First Shot At Paris Olympic Medal, Manu Bhaker Qualifies For 10 M Air Pistol Finals
India's first shot at a Paris Olympics medal has been secured as Manu Bhaker spectacularly qualified for the finals of Women's 10 M Air Pistol.
The first piece of good news has finally arrived for the Indian Contingent at Paris Olympics, as India's Manu Bhaker has made it to the finals of 10M Women's Air Pistols by finishing third in the qualification round to secure India's first shot at an Olympic Medal. Manu Bhaker will battle it out for the medal shot tomorrow.
Manu Bhaker shot 580 out of 600 in the six series to finish third to become the first Indian Athlete at Paris Olympics to get a medal shot. She sealed her fate by shooting a 96 in the sixth and final round of qualification. Overall, she shot 97, 97, 98, 96, 96, 96 in her six rounds and will now get ready for the finals tomorrow.
How Manu Bhaker Qualified For Finals
A supremely confident Manu Bhaker was at the top of her game as she entered the 10m women's air pistol final, salvaging the day for Indian shooting after an underwhelming start by her compatriots in the Olympic Games here on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Bhaker shot 580 to finish third in the qualifications in which Hungarian ace Veronika Major claimed the top spot with a score of 582. The other Indian representative, Rhythm Sangwan, ended 15th with a score of 573. The final will be held on Sunday.
Reduced to tears following her forgettable outing in her Games debut in Tokyo three years ago, Bhaker is seeking to add an Olympic medal to her very excellent resume.
A prominent shooter, who has gained international recognition for his exploits in the sport form a very young age, Bhaker looked determined to keep the Tokyo memories behind and produced a fine qualification performance.
The Haryana shooter made a bright start with a total of 97 points to take the fourth spot at the end of Series 1.
Bhaker got a 97 in the second series too and remained in fourth as Sangwan slipped to 26th after a poor outing including an 8. But Bhaker was back in the top two after an excellent 98 in her third series.
Bhaker got an 8 in the fifth series, her first bad shot in an otherwise excellent qualification, but she still remained in the mix and eventually made the final.
India's Underwhelming Shooting Day
While Manu Bhaker made it to the finals of Women's 10 M Air Pistols, there was disappointment on the other side for Team India as Rhythm Sangwan plummeted to 15th spot and failed to make the finals at the end. She shot, 97, 92, 97, 96, 95 and 96 in her six rounds which was not enough to seal a Top 8 finish that is required to make it the finals.
Earlier, for Team India heartbreak ensued when in men's 10 M Air Pistol, Sarbjot Singh could not pull up his weight and narrowly missed out on making the finals. India's 10 M Air Rifle events also ended in disappointment with mixed teams of Ramita Jindal-Arjun Babuta and Elavenil Valarivan-Sandeep Singh both getting knocked out.
India's disappointing start to shooting was however salvaged by Manu Bhaker in the end as the nation dreams of its first medal at Paris Summer games.
(With PTI Inputs)
Updated 19:10 IST, July 27th 2024