Like the proverbial Phoenix rising from the ashes, Manu Bhaker showed passion, grit and hunger for success to emerge the queen of Indian sports in 2024 with her sensational performances at the Paris Olympics. At the start of the year, Manu was not even sure if she would make the team, since the National Rifle Association of India had laid down a clear-cut selection policy. It was like, peak and prove yourself in the Olympic Selection Trials (OST) and get selected. The way Manu blazed the trials in New Delhi and Bhopal in the summer heat, there was no doubt she had to make it to three teams – air pistol, mixed and sports pistol.
Manu stayed calm, forgot what had happened in the Tokyo Olympics three years ago and shot with focus. Her two bronze medals from the ranges in Chateauroux and a fourth-place finish in the sports pistol makes her a winner hands down as the best in 2024. It was tough for Manu. She was fighting the system and she chose a personal coach to guide her with whom she had fallen out. How Jaspal Rana brought the best out of her is a magical story, capturing the essence of peaking multiple times in three months, at the OST and the Olympics.
Coaches rarely get credit for what a champion does. Rana still says he did nothing and whatever he does, even today, to help out anyone who seeks his guidance is for the nation. Yet, in Europe, before the Olympics and then in Chateauroux, the coach was like Manu’s shadow. Each practice session, morning to later evening, he was guiding her. Such devotion from coach and ward was unseen. And Manu’s faith in his methods worked so well. For that matter, the entire family rallied behind Manu, her mother Sumedha and father Ramkishan, as they believed Manu had chosen a coach who could help her the best.
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It’s easy to reminisce about the two medals in Paris 2024, – air pistol and mixed with Sarabjot. But then, there is still a regret for Manu, she could have won one more in the 25 metres sports pistol. Conditions were hard at the Games Village in Chateauroux. This was a sleepy town, far away from Paris. Basic facilities were poor, inadequate food, nothing at the ranges other than sugary biscuits and ice cream. Manu used to battle headache in the build-up to the Olympics. Her lunch was yogurt and dry fruits brought from India. The calorie intake was not sufficient but she did not crib. She battled headaches, more due to poor food quality. That she did not speak about it was a true sign of wanting to just focus on her matches.
Way back in the 1980s, Boris Becker had said, winning Wimbledon titles meant he was obsessed, needed a tunnel-like vision. There were shades of that same craze in Manu as the Western media also interviewed her multiple teams. She has spoken, repeatedly, how Jaspal Sir has guided her. She has mentioned how reading the Holy Bhagwad Gita has helped her.
She battled pain, multiple times taking aim at the target meant her body had been pushed beyond human limits. She craved for a day off, and the coach would say “No.” His message was, bear the pain, peak at the Olympics and then take a long break. She did exactly what Rana said and has been rewarded. For Indian shooting, which was an embarrassment after flop shows in Rio 2016 and Tokyo in 2021, Manu showed the way back. Of course, one cannot ignore the medals won by Sarabjot in mixed with Manu and Swapnil Kushale in 3P rifle.
There are lessons to be learnt from 2024 for Manu, slog and shoot. Forget pain, spend hours at the range, seek perfection. Shooting is not about not worrying what the person in the next lane is doing. Just focus on your own methods, what you have been taught. Handling pressure, that was the biggest takeaway. Can Manu repeat this in 2025, leading till the LA Olympics in 2028, she knows best. There are no shortcuts, as coach Rana said. “What you did is history, what you will do again and again and peak will define you. This is my message to all shooters,” said Rana. His methods are not easy, some shooters say he is extremely hard. Nobody is complaining, Manu is proof his methods work.
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