THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Manu Bhaker first picked up a pistol on April 24, 2016. With less than two years of experience in the sport, the 15-year-old girl from Haryana emerged on Saturday as the women’s 10m air pistol champion at the 61st national shooting championship, beating none other than veteran and strong favourite Heena Sidhu.
“This was my second national championship. I’d finished seventh in juniors at my first. I don’t think anybody has won a senior national championship within such a short span of time,” said Bhaker.
Sidhu was off to a good start, but Bhaker mounted a comeback to level things at 82 points after eight rounds were fired. The youngster took the lead with a 10.8 in the next, and barely looked back from then on.
Even an 8.7 from Bhaker in the 16th round and Heena firing a 10.9 in the final made little difference as the former took the top of the podium after amassing 242.3 points, 1.8 more than the runner-up.“It was a huge challenge to compete with someone like Heena. But I just focussed on my game and kept my composure till the last shot,” said Bhaker.
She didn’t stop there. Bhaker made a clean sweep in the air pistol event for women, winning the junior and youth events as well without breaking much of a sweat. She also set new national records in both.
“When I came in for the championship, I did not even expect to take home a single medal. This has been magical for me,” said the 11th standard student.Bhaker very clearly remembers the date on which she started out in this sport. It was when her father had recommended that she take up the sport, after completing her 10th standard board examinations. She also scored 96 per cent to boot.
Taking up a new sport wasn’t anything new for Bhaker, as she claims to have played quite a few.
“I have played almost every sport. Football, cricket, basketball, swimming, judo, karate, rollerskating, tennis, table tennis and squash, to name a few. I have taken each seriously, and the same goes for shooting as well,” said Bhaker.
She had also stolen the limelight at the 10th Asian Airgun Championship in Wako City (Japan) earlier this month by winning a quota berth for the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games (October).“I am looking forward to the Youth Olympics. It’d be great if I can make it to the next year’s Commonwealth Games as well,” Bhaker remarked.
Settling for silver, Sidhu was also in praise of Bhaker. “She did mount a good challenge, but it was expected as she had scored 82 in qualification as well. She has been doing very well and you can see a lot of promise. This result will help with her confidence,” she said.