Manu Bhaker won two bronze medals at the Paris Olympics in 2024 and became the first Indian to take two medals at a single Games. The first of them, in the women’s 10 metres air pistol, was also the first Olympic shooting medal won by an Indian woman. Three years earlier, in Tokyo, a broken pistol had left her in tears. Paris was the answer, and it came from a shooter who had been winning world-level gold since she was 16.
Name: Manu Bhaker | Born: 18 February 2002, Goria, Jhajjar, Haryana | Sport: Shooting | Event: 10 m air pistol, 25 m pistol
From the boxing ring to the range
Manu grew up in Goria, a village in Jhajjar district in Haryana. As a schoolgirl she tried several sports, including tennis, skating, boxing and the Manipuri martial art thang-ta, and won medals at national level in more than one of them. She switched to shooting at 14 and was competing at senior level within two years.
Gold at 16
Her rise was startling. At the ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico, in March 2018, she won the women’s 10 m air pistol, beating the home favourite Alejandra Zavala in the final, and added a second gold in the mixed team event with Om Prakash Mitharval. She was 16.
The following month she won Commonwealth Games gold on the Gold Coast in the 10 m air pistol with a Games record of 240.9. In October 2018 she won the 10 m air pistol at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, becoming the first Indian female athlete to win a Youth Olympic gold.
Tokyo heartbreak
Manu went to the Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021, as one of India’s leading medal hopes. In the qualification round of the 10 m air pistol her pistol malfunctioned and she lost precious minutes fixing it. She finished 12th and missed the final. She also missed the finals of the 25 m pistol and the mixed team event, finishing 15th and seventh.
The experience took a heavy toll. In 2023 she reunited with her former coach Jaspal Rana, himself an Asian Games champion, who had guided her through her first seasons on the senior circuit. At the Asian Games in Hangzhou that year she won gold in the women’s 25 m pistol team event with Esha Singh and Rhythm Sangwan.
Two medals in Paris
Paris brought everything together. In the 10 m air pistol final on 28 July 2024 she shot steadily under pressure and took bronze, ending India’s long wait for an Olympic shooting medal by a woman. It was also India’s first medal of the Games.
Two days later she teamed up with Sarabjot Singh in the 10 m air pistol mixed team event, and the pair beat South Korea to win another bronze. That made Manu the first Indian athlete to win two medals at the same Olympic Games. She very nearly made it three. In the 25 m pistol final she was in the medal places for much of the contest and finished fourth after a shoot-off for bronze.
Khel Ratna and after
In January 2025 she was named for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, India’s highest sporting honour, and received it at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 17 January 2025. She had won the Arjuna Award in 2020.
Her results since Paris have been less consistent. At the 2025 World Championships in Cairo she won silver in the women’s 10 m air pistol team event with Esha Singh and Suruchi Inder Singh, and finished seventh in the individual final. At the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya she reached the 10 m air pistol final but finished fifth, and left the Games without a medal.
Style and standing
Manu competes in two very different pistol events. The 10 m air pistol needs stillness and control over 60 shots, while the 25 m pistol rewards rhythm and quick decisions in the rapid-fire stage. Few shooters reach world level in both, and she has reached Olympic finals in each. Still only 24, she has time to add to a collection that already sets her apart in Indian shooting.
Career record and honours
- Olympic Games: bronze, women’s 10 m air pistol, Paris 2024; bronze, 10 m air pistol mixed team (with Sarabjot Singh), Paris 2024; fourth, 25 m pistol, Paris 2024
- First Indian to win two medals at one Olympic Games
- Asian Games: gold, women’s 25 m pistol team, Hangzhou 2023
- Commonwealth Games: gold, 10 m air pistol, Gold Coast 2018 (Games record 240.9)
- Youth Olympic Games: gold, 10 m air pistol, Buenos Aires 2018
- ISSF World Cup: two golds (10 m air pistol and mixed team), Guadalajara 2018
- World Championships: silver, women’s 10 m air pistol team, Cairo 2025
- Arjuna Award, 2020
- Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, 2024 (presented January 2025)
