At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Indian shooters Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh made history by winning the bronze medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team shooting event on Tuesday.
This achievement marks India’s sixth Olympic medal in shooting and the first-ever medal in a team shooting event. It also makes Manu Bhaker the first athlete from independent India to secure two medals in a single Olympics. Bhaker previously made history on Sunday by becoming the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal in shooting.
In the bronze medal match at the National Shooting Center in Chateauroux, Bhaker and Singh defeated South Korea’s Oh Ye Jin and Wonho Lee with a score of 16-10. Oh Ye Jin had won gold in the women’s 10m air pistol event on Sunday.
Bhaker started with a strong performance, scoring a 10.2 on her first shot. Despite Singh’s initial score of 8.6 costing India the first two points, he quickly recovered with scores of 10.5, 10.4, and 10 to help secure the next six points.
Bhaker maintained her high performance, scoring at least 10 on her first seven shots. However, Oh Ye Jin’s consistency allowed the South Korean team to close the gap from an 8-2 deficit to 14-10. Oh Ye Jin scored 9 on her final shot, while her partner added 9.5. Bhaker scored 9.4, but Singh’s 10.2 clinched the bronze for India.
The Indian duo made 19 out of 26 shots with at least a score of 10, compared to the South Koreans’ 12 such shots.
On Monday, Bhaker and Singh had finished third in the qualifying round, behind Turkiye’s Sevval Ilayda Tarhan-Yusuf Dikec and Serbia’s Zorana Arunovic-Damir Mikec. Serbia went on to win gold with a 16-14 victory over Turkiye.
This is the second time India has won two shooting medals at a single Olympics, the first being at London 2012 when Gagan Narang and Vijay Kumar won silver and bronze, respectively. India had no shooting medals at Rio 2016 or Tokyo 2020.
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won India’s first Olympic shooting medal, a silver, at Athens 2004 in the men’s double trap. Abhinav Bindra secured India’s only gold medal in shooting at Beijing 2008 in the men’s 10m air rifle.
Bhaker will also compete in the women’s 25m pistol event starting on Friday, and is the only athlete from the 21-member Indian shooting team participating in multiple individual events.
