Chateauroux, July 30 Shooter Manu Bhaker said she is feeling a lot of gratitude for achieving the feat of becoming first Indian athlete to win two medals at a single edition of the Olympics on Tuesday.
Manu and Sarabjot Singh clinched the bronze medal in the 10m Air Pistol Team event after registering a 16-10 victory over South Korea following 13 shots in the bronze medal playoff.
"I feel really proud. I feel a lot of gratitude to able to achieve this feat. It is just blessings. Thank you so much for all the blessings and love," said Manu after the taking the historic bronze.
This was also Manu’s and India's second medal at the Paris Games. She also has the chance to win a third medal when the 22-year-old features in the women’s 25m Pistol event.
In the bronze medal playoff, the South Korean team of Lee Wonho and Oh Ye Jin took the first series. The Indian duo, however, bounced back to lead 8-2. The contest took an exciting turn in the latter half as Korea managed to bounce back but India never looked like conceding their lead and sealed the victory.
"Actually, we can't control anything; we can just try to do our best. Before coming here also, me and my partner were like, okay let's try our best and however it goes, we will accept, and we will just keep fighting till the last shot," said Manu.
Overall, Manu became the third Indian -- after wrestler Sushil Kumar and shuttler PV Sindhu -- to win more than one individual medal in the Olympics.
Sarabjot Singh, who bagged his first Olympic medal, is now the sixth Indian shooter to win a medal at the Summer Games.
"There was lot of pressure and the crowd amazing , So, I am really happy," said Sarabjot.
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore — Athens 2004, Abhinav Bindra — Beijing 2008, Vijay Kumar — London 2012, Gagan Narang — London 2012, Manu Bhaker – Paris 2024 are the other shooters to have won medals at the Olympics.
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