Manu Bhaker’s Paris Olympics came to a heartbreaking end on Saturday as she missed out on a medal in the women’s 25m pistol event by the smallest of margins.
Bhaker, who had already won bronze medals in the women’s and mixed team 10m air pistol events, was aiming to become the first Indian to win three medals in a single Olympic Games.
Bhaker was in medal contention throughout the final after climbing to second after the first stage of 10 shots. After shooting five, four and four hits in the fifth, sixth and seventh series, Bhaker was just a point away from eventual gold medallist Yang Jiin.
However, she shot only two hits in the eighth series to drop to fourth and was forced into a shootoff with world record holder Veronika Major of Hungary. Major missed her second shot in the five shot series while Bhaker nailed her first two shots.
Unfortunately, the Indian missed her next two shots even as Major nailed her final three shots to win the shootoff 4-3.
Bhaker joins Joydeep Karmakar (London 2012), Abhinav Bindra (Rio 2016) and Arjun Babuta (Paris 2024) to finish fourth in an Olympic shooting final.
Bhaker departs from Paris as a two-time Olympic medallist and a history-maker.
More to follow.
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