Manu Bhaker after winning a bronze medal in the 10m air pistol final, Bhaker’s coach Jaspal Rana. (AP/PTI and Express photo by Mihir Vasavda)
Manu Bhaker became first Indian woman to win a shooting medal at the Olympics. A historic triumph for which she credited her longtime coach Jaspal Rana.
“He made the training so difficult for me that this was not so difficult for me. He has played a huge role in this medal,” Bhaker told the reporters after her bronze medal win on Sunday.
Bhaker then elaborated on a unique training regime set by Rana. “He asks us to pick a target for ourselves. Say I pick 582 points but score 578, so that’s four points less than the total I set out for. He’ll then ask us to donate as much in the currency of the country we’re in. He asks us to buy goods worth as much and donate it among the needful. These have been the rules of our training. At times, he increases the intensity of our training by a lot. “At times, he makes it €40 or even €400.”
The 22-year-old furthermore added that the presence of her head coach in the stands for her women’s 10m air-pistol final helped her remain composed through the event, in which she missed out on a silver medal by a difference of 0.1.
“I had figured out where he was sitting in the crowd and I was making sure I looked at him and nobody else. Looking at him gives me courage and I am grateful that all those years of hard work with him have paid off,” she added.
Bhaker, who had enjoyed a string of success with Rana between 2018 and 2021, winning multiple ISSF World Cup medals a Commonwealth Games, had decided to part ways with Rana ahead of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. The duo would reunite last year, a move that paid off with a massive win on Sunday.
Tokyo’s dejection led to triumph in Paris
Bhaker, who is featuring in only her second Summer Games, had been left dejected after a gun malfunction in her Olympic debut three years ago in Tokyo. It is however, an experience she believes helped her come out on top in Paris.
“How things turned out in Tokyo, no one could’ve anticipated that. I think I was lacking somewhere owing to which whatever happened did happen. It’d be better to leave the past in the past,” she said.
“I believe if you can’t win something, you should take lessons from it. I don’t think I would’ve been here if it weren’t for those lessons. I’m glad I got those lessons at an early age, it takes years for some to,” Bhaker added.
