Paris Olympics: Manu Bhaker finishes fourth in 25m pistol event
India's ace shooter Manu Bhaker missed out on a medal in the women's 25m pistol main event at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Bhaker, who has already handed India two bronze medals in the ongoing event, could have made more history by winning a third medal. She finished fourth after losing a shootoff with Veronica Major for an assured medal after both were tied.
South Korea's Yang Ji-in wins the gold medal
South Korea's Yang Ji-in won the gold medal in the women's 25m pistol event at the Paris Olympics on Saturday. France's Camille Jedrzejewski won the silver, while Hungary's Major took home bronze after edging past Bhaker.
Bhaker was in contention for a medal
Bhaker was in medal contention throughout the final. She climbed to second spot after the first stage of 10 shots. She shot five, four and four hits in the fifth, sixth and seventh series to be a point away from Ji-in. However, she shot only two hits in the eighth series to drop to fourth and was forced into a shootoff with Hungary's Major.
Major pips Bhaker in the shootoff
World record holder Major missed her second shot in the five shot series while Bhaker nailed her first two shots. Unfortunately, the Indian shooter missed her next two shots even as Major nailed her final three shots to come on top in the shootoff 4-3.
Bhaker joins this list among Indian shooters
Bhaker joined the likes of Joydeep Karmakar (London 2012), Abhinav Bindra (Rio 2016) and Arjun Babuta (Paris 2024) to finish fourth in an Olympic shooting final.
What happened in the qualification stage of 25m pistol event?
In the precision stage of qualification on Friday, she scored 97 in the first series before managing 98 in the second series. In the third series, Bhaker managed an impressive 99 as she took her total to 294. She was placed third. Bhaker clocked a perfect 100/100 to start off the rapid stage. She managed a score of 98 and 96 thereafter, finishing second.
Bhaker finishes Paris Olympics with two bronze medals
22-year-old Bhaker finished third in the women's 10m air pistol final and claimed a bronze medal. She became the first-ever Indian woman to claim an Olympic medal in shooting. Thereafter, Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh prevailed in the 10m air pistol mixed team bronze medal match. Manu and Sarabjot won the coveted medal after beating the Korean duo of OH Ye Jin and LEE Wonho.
