Indian shooters Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh made history by securing a bronze medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event at the Paris 2024 Olympics on Tuesday. This victory marks India’s sixth Olympic medal in shooting and the first-ever in a team shooting event. Notably, Manu Bhaker has become the first athlete from independent India to win two medals in a single edition of the Olympics. On Sunday, she also became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal in shooting.
Competing at the National Shooting Center in Chateauroux, Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh triumphed over the Republic of Korea’s Oh Ye Jin and Wonho Lee with a score of 16-10 in the bronze medal match. Interestingly, Oh Ye Jin had won the gold medal in the women’s 10m air pistol event on Sunday.
Manu Bhaker started off strong, shooting a 10.2 on her opening shot. Despite Sarabjot Singh’s initial 8.6 costing India the first two points, he quickly recovered with scores of 10.5, 10.4, and 10, securing the next six points for India. Manu Bhaker continued to excel, striking at least a 10 on her first seven shots. However, Oh Ye Jin’s consistent performance kept the South Koreans in contention, as they recovered from an 8-2 deficit to stretch the match to 14-10.
Oh Ye Jin, the Olympic champion, struck a 9 on her final shot while her partner managed a 9.5. Manu Bhaker hit a 9.4, and a 10.2 from Sarabjot Singh sealed the medal for India. “It’s great. The first medal was really good and again the fight was really tough,” Manu said. “It was neck to neck with each shot, like with my first bronze. But the last shot was Sarabjot’s, so big up to him.”
In the bronze medal match, the Indian shooters had 19 of their 26 shots hitting at least a 10, compared to the South Koreans’ 12 shots hitting a minimum of 10. On Monday, Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh finished third in the qualifying round, behind Turkiye’s Sevval Ilayda Tarhan-Yusuf Dikec and Serbia’s Zorana Arunovic-Damir Mikec. Serbia won the gold medal with a 16-14 victory over Turkiye. The top two teams from the field of 17 qualified for the gold medal match, while the third and fourth-placed teams competed for the bronze.
Two of India’s six Olympic medals in shooting have now come at Paris 2024. The only other time Indian shooters won two medals in a single edition of the Olympics was in London 2012, where Gagan Narang (men’s 10m air rifle) and Vijay Kumar (men’s 25m rapid fire pistol) won silver and bronze, respectively. India did not win any medals in shooting events at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won India’s first Olympic medal in shooting with a silver at Athens 2004 in the men’s double trap, and Abhinav Bindra won India’s only gold medal in shooting in the men’s 10m air rifle at Beijing 2008.
Manu Bhaker will also compete in the women’s 25m pistol event, scheduled to start on Friday. She is the only athlete from the 21-member Indian shooting team to participate in multiple individual events.
