Chateauroux [France], July 30 : India's record scripting shooter Manu Bhaker dedicated the majority of her success to her coach, Jaspal Rana, and revealed the mantra that allowed her to effortlessly rewrite history books in the ongoing Paris Olympics.
The Paris Olympics has been a redemption arc for Manu after her pistol malfunctioned at the Tokyo Olympics. She made history by becoming the first Indian woman in 20 years to reach a shooting final in an individual event of the Olympics since Suma Shirur in 2004. She went on to open India's medal tally account by claiming bronze in the women's air pistol event.
On Tuesday, the India shooting duo of Manu and Sarabjot Singh got the better of South Korea's Lee Wonho and Oh Ye Jin 16-10 in the bronze medal play-off match in the 10 m air pistol mixed team event.
This marked the second medal for Manu as well, and following her history-making success, she became the first India athlete to secure two medals in the same Olympic event.
After scripting history, Manu opened up about her approach and gave credit to her coach, Jaspal Rana, for the success that she has achieved.
"I have three events in the Olympics, and for every Olympics, I try my best to make every event as good as possible. Even in training, every athlete puts a lot of effort into training. So, I make sure that all the events are equally balanced and that I am able to deliver an equal amount of hard work in both events. So, I would say that because of that and plus definitely the strategic planning of my coach, Jaspal sir, I would dedicate him also like a major chunk of the success because of his planning and everything and then definitely the policies made by the federation and all which were very inclusive of me being a like double event shooter," Manu told ANI.
Manu and Sarabjot could have been in contention for a gold or silver medal. However, they fell short by a point and featured in the bronze medal match. Manu revealed the mindset that the duo had for the medal after facing a setback in terms of the colour of the medal.
"So yesterday, we missed the gold and silver by one point. So okay, so victories have been narrowly missed, and I missed the silver by 0.1. Then yesterday, by one point, we went to the bronze medal match. So after the match, we were like, you know what, let's just give our best tomorrow. And whatever follows, we will not regret it later. We will try our best. Whatever happens, we will see." Manu added.
With this medal, India's medal tally moved to two in the ongoing Summer Games. Both Bhaker and Sarabjot shot consistently with regular 10s in the series against the Koreans.
Manu will have the opportunity to extend her individual medal tally to three as she is set to compete in the 25m pistol event. She revealed the mantra that has helped her stay grounded and perform to her maximum calibre.
"We will just try our best. So I'm glad that he also shot well, and I also shot well. So that's great. So I always think of it, I'm a firm believer of karma. If you start thinking about the results, it just diverts your mindset and does not let you perform to your optimum calibre. So yeah, that's my mantra," Manu stated.
Manu's hunt for her third Olympic medal will begin In August when she takes part in the 25m pistol event.
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