Haryana’s 16 year old, Manu Bhaker made history on Sunday by winning a gold medal in women’s 10m Air Pistol gold at the¬†International Shooting Sport Federation(ISSF) in Guadalajara, Mexico. She has become the youngest Indian shooter to win a World Cup gold.
This was Manu’s first World Cup where she beat two times world champion, Alejandra Zavala Vazquez, by 0.4 point difference to win the medal. She scored the highest 237.5 in the finals.
“I am extremely happy at winning Gold, especially as this is my first World Cup. I look forward to performing even better in upcoming competitions”, said Manu Bhaker after making the country proud with her jaw-dropping performance.
She hails from Haryana and started shooting just two years ago. The only shooting range in Goriya Village in Jhajjar district is 25km away from her residence where she trains for almost five hours every day.
Manu’s medal is special as it came while competing against three Olympic (Celine Goberville, Anna Korakkai, and Heidi Diethelm) and multiple World Cup medalists. Also, this is the first World Cup where women shooters hit 60 shots in the qualifications. Women shooters used to shoot 40 shots before the ISSF changed the rules from January 1, 2018, to bring gender equality in the sport, as reported by The Times of India.
Manu is an excellent sportsperson with several medals in her name in various other sports like Boxing, Karate, Tang Ta (Manipuri martial arts), cricket, tennis etc.
Manu’s teammate, Yashaswini Singh Deswal¬†scored 196.1 points in the finals and finished fourth.
Manu also won another gold in the 10m air pistol mixed team event partnered with Om Prakash Mitharval beating the German husband-wife duo, Christian and Sandra Reitz with 476.1 to 475.2 score.
Due to the commendable performance of athletes like Manu, India has won 7 medals up till now in the ISSF Championship including 3 gold and is on top of World Cup medal tally. This splendid performance by the Indian shooting team has made India proud and inspired many.
