Reunited with coach Jaspal Rana, Manu Bhaker seeks redemption
The shooting hall at Karni Singh shooting range is slowly emptying out. The pistol and rifle shooters, having completed their series, carefully packed their weapons and walk off. Lights dim and the crack of pellets fades away, but in the far-left corner of the hall, Manu Bhaker's pistol is still at work.
The target sits 10m away, at the core of the mesmeric concentric rings. Bhaker fires, misses, fires again, misses again. Manu is chasing the elusive 10.9, the shooting equivalent of perfection. She looks at her computer screen. It's not a perfect score but she is not flustered. The 21-year-old has seen worse. Going into the Olympics as a medal contender and gloriously misfiring must certainly be tougher than missing 10.9s in practice.
Among the few survivors from the 15-member Tokyo contingent, Bhaker lost her place in her pet 10m event last year and the emergence of young talent — Esha Singh, Divya TS, Palak, Rhythm Sangwan — has not made it any easier.
Much as Bhaker did in the previous Olympic cycle, Singh has come along as a steady 10m shooter. A 10m silver at last year's Cairo World Cup where Bhaker finished fifth was a sign of the 18-year-old's smooth transition to the senior circuit, and while Bhaker eked out a narrow win over Singh at the Asian Airgun Championship final (junior category), the latter has done enough to make it to India's World Championships and Asian Games teams.
Much of Bhaker's recent international success has come in the junior field, including a five-medal haul at the World Championships in Lima back in 2021. At last year's National Games, she finished sixth in the 10m event and fourth in the 25m. She couldn't secure a top-three in any of the ten trials she participated in 2022 across both individual pistol events, while her best individual result since Tokyo in senior internationals remains a fourth-place finish (25m) at last year's Changwon World Cup.
The dip had a bearing on Bhaker's confidence too and the youngster contemplated quitting the sport despite making four 10m finals in six national trials this year, winning once. In the 25m lane, the reigning national champion has won four of the five trials she shot in.
"It's not as if I was not shooting well. I did well at the Asian Airgun event and some junior events last year. I started this year well in the 10m event but after my form slipped, a lot of people started telling me that my career was over. The negativity was too much to handle and I came on the brink of quitting the sport. Shooting had become a chore; there was nothing to look forward to," she said.
"At times I felt... why am I aimlessly firing... there was no purpose, nothing to look forward to."
That's when she approached her former coach Jaspal Rana. "I am the kind of person who likes to do things her way. Jaspal sir understands me very well. A few sessions are all it took for him to rekindle my love for the sport," she added.
The reunion was equally smooth for Rana. "She took the first step and I decided to help. A lot of things had changed in her shooting over the past two years, so I have started to look at every aspect minutely. There are little technical tweaks in terms of grip that we are working on, among others," he said.
The coach is not too worried about Manu's indifferent 10m form. "She is a proven shooter in 10m and I am not too worried about her comeback. I don't mind whichever pistol event she does well in as long as she wins an Olympic quota."
For now, Manu is focussed on this month's World University Games in Chengdu followed by the World Championships in Baku where Olympic quotas will be up for grabs. She then heads into her second Asian Games followed by Asian Championships, another Olympic qualifying event.
"The Olympics are just around the corner and I want to make a comeback in both disciplines. When I shoot well in 10m, my results in the 25m range also improve," Manu said.
"I feel I have matured a lot since Tokyo Olympics. Failures teach you a lot. My mindset in shooting has evolved. My personality has changed a lot too. I feel I am more patient and less impulsive. I hope I'll be able to redeem myself."
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