Lima: Manu Bhaker’s medal haul at the 2021 Junior Shooting World Championships in Lima, Peru was spectacular. The 19-year-old entered the tournament as the clear favourite to win four gold medals and one bronze.
It all started with her favourite event, the women’s individual 10m air pistol, which was held in Lima on October 1st, 2021. Having finishing 3rd in the qualification round two days previously, Manu Bhaker picked up her game in the final. The Haryana girl’s start was not ideal. She began with a total of 50.1 in her first series of five shots and improved to 50.6 in the second, trailing Turkey’s Yilmaz Yasemin by 0.3.
However, Bhaker improved her game just as the two-shot elimination round began. She took the lead at the conclusion of the 12th shot and didn’t look back. It was all one way traffic till the end, when she overcame fellow Indian Esha Singh by 1.3 points to claim her maiden medal.
Manu Bhaker clinched the gold in the Women's 10m Air Pistol event at the ISSF Junior World Championship to make a smashing comeback after the disappointment at the Tokyo Olympics!👊🥇#Shooting pic.twitter.com/oHccsYLjPG
— The Bridge (@the_bridge_in) October 1, 2021
While her performance demonstrated why she is regarded as one of the world’s top pistol shooters, Manu Bhaker was hungry for more. Two days later, she was back on the hunt for the top spot on the podium.
The only difference this time was that it happened twice on the same day, on October 3, 2021. Manu Bhaker, who competed in the mixed 10m pistol event with Sarabjot Singh, won qualification stage 1 with a total score of 583. The duo maintained their performance in qualification stage 2, advancing to the gold medal match against fellow Indians Naveen and Shikha Narwal.
In a hard-fought gold medal match, Bhaker and Singh won 16-12 to take the top spot on the podium. Only a few hours later, this Bhaker returned to the range. This is the first event of the women’s 10m pistol team.
India's 'Terrific Trio'!!
Manu Bhaker – 4 🥇, 1🥉
Naamya Kapoor – 2 🥇
Rhythm Sangwan – 2 🥇 #Shooting | #ISSFJuniorWorldChampionships pic.twitter.com/d7isdYMf8Y— The Bridge (@the_bridge_in) October 6, 2021
As if three gold medals weren’t enough, she added a bronze and gold medal in the 25m event. Despite not having her strongest suit, Manu won the women’s 25m pistol qualification stage before taking bronze in a close-fought individual final. Yesterday night, she won gold in the women’s team 25m pistol with Rhythm Sangwan and 14-year-old Naamya Kapoor.
