Manu Bhaker’s Bronze Opens India’s Olympics Account

The first couple of days at the Paris Olympics 2024 have already given Indians fans plenty of reasons to cheer, but none more so than when Manu Bhaker opened India’s medal account at the Olympics by snagging the first bronze medal for India, and becoming the first woman shooter to do so.

It was redemption time for Bhaker who returned home disappointed from the last edition of the Olympics, in Tokyo, when a misfiring pistol put paid to her dreams of an Olympic medal. But she was not to be denied in Paris and at one point, coming so close to the competition ahead that she even split the two leading women on the points board, both belonging to the Republic of Korea.

Bhaker could not have made a bigger splash, even as expectations were high on her young shoulders. Although there were several athletes getting underway, the pressure to bring the medal, plausibly in gold, was high on Bhaker from the very outset. Losing by just 0.1 to finish third, at one point she had even moved ahead of the eventual gold medallist, Oh Ye Jin.

Kim Y., who was in the lead for much of the final, found herself floundering at the very end, handing the gold to Oh Yeh Jin, who made it count when it mattered as it was hard to split the difference – at one point, less than 1 pint difference in the competition between the top three. Bhaker looked relieved, a wry smile crossing her face when she knew she missed her chance to stay in second place, but looked relieved even more at the end of the competition to have exorcised the ghost of the last Olympics adventure.

By finishing third in the 10m air pistol event, Bhaker not only broke the medal drought after 12 years where India is concerned and also, became the first Indian woman to do so!

And to think that at one point, she was very close to taking silver and challenging the gold, point margin so fine that one would have to find a toothpick to separate the top three. This is what makes Bhaker’s performance even more special!

The anticipation was growing and ended in a crescendo after stellar performances from the likes of Lakshya Sen and P. V. Sindhu in badminton kept the flag flying high, with the pair of Satwitsairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty really lighting up the tournament with their performance against a home doubles’ team that knew they were up against a team that was fire and ice on the day.

Sen’s phenomenal comeback and the men’s doubles enthralling match really set up the stage overnight to whet the appetite looking for a medal.

Shetty and Rankireddy reportedly did not always get well together but their rapport and their willingness to take turns to take the lead to trounce their opponents made it a fascinating contest against the men’s French shuttlers, Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar 21-17, 21-14. It was a rousing win for the world’s No.3. and a great start to the Olympics.

Sen had earlier pulled off a thriller, battling it out against the five time Olympian, Kevin Cordon of Guatemala. 42 minutes of intense contest later, Sen had won his debut Olympics match, ranked 18th the world.

P. V. Sindhu called her clinical performance against Fathimath Abdul Razzaq as match practice which might have felt a bit of an insult to her opponent but for a two time Olympics medallist looking for a record third, she was also aware of the points she dropped earlier and the need to pick up her game knowing stiffer competition awaited her.

While fans had to wait for the much anticipated Rohan Bopanna and Sreeram Balaji to get their match underway at Roland Garros as far as was tennis was concerned with weather drawing a dark cloud, there was already so much action, with Indian rower, Balraj Panwar, reaching the men’s singles sculls quarterfinals, the first such Indian to do so earlier in the day.

Finishing second in the repechages, he is the sole representative for India on the water. Although Panwar couldn’t qualify directly from the first heat on day one, he recovered well to come back and even challenged Morocco’s Quentin Antognelli for the first place in the heats on Saturday morning. Trading the top spot, eventually Balraj, who hails from Haryana, settled for second and the opportunity to take his spot in the quarterfinals.

Still it has to be that while it would be hard to pick any one winner, even with no immediate medal prospect on the horizon, with several Indian athletes having already done their fans proud with the way they have already begun the competition, Bhaker’s 2024 success for the bronze medal is a story indeed of grit, perseverance and overcoming heartbreaking disappointment, to not only show up but also, put the top competition in check as the statistic revealed in such a close contest.