PARIS: Manu Bhaker held out her right hand, the scars of the battles she fought over the past week (and the previous years) were there for all to see. There was a corn-like mark just between the thumb and the wrist, where the gun rests on her hand above the grip. It is incredible how she was able to hold the gun steady and shoot, let alone unerringly hit the mark. Just like a river eroding and chipping away everything in its path, Manu’s scars too were a testimony of struggles and rewards, good and bad, whatever her career had thrown at her so far.
There's is an interesting anecdote coach Jaspal Rana was narrating just outside the shooting venue. Two days ago during one of their ritualistic walks back to the Games Village at Chateauroux, Manu wanted to feed a goat just outside the range. She had a plum but the goat did not eat it. The 22-year-old was wondering why. Could it be that the goat did not like the plum?
"That thing stuck inside her head and was troubling her," said Jaspal. She came back the next day and fed the goat a banana and the plum too. Manu laughed when asked about the incident. She said that the goat ate both the plum and the banana. This defines Manu. She is someone who doesn’t take failures too easily. “I am a fighter and I don’t give up,” she would say during a small interaction.
Manu created history at the Paris Games when she won the bronze in the 10m air pistol event before teaming up with Sarabjot Singh to win another bronze in the mixed event. So comfortable has she looked doing this that a fourth place finish in the 25m event came across as anti-climactic.
The 25m pistol final was won and lost on very fine margins. Shooters don’t have the luxury of poor shots. One poor shot in the shoot-off was enough to relegate her to the fourth spot.
The day did not end the way Manu would have liked but this fourth finish has given her more motivation to come back and win medals at the next Games in Los Angeles. She felt that she would head home richer in experience that will help her in the future. “This will give me more strength for the next Games at LA in 2028,” she said. “I guess I'm taking home two bronze medals and lots of motivation from the fourth place finish, for my career and my life, to work even harder and for a better finish.”
For Manu, the mixed bronze medal was more cherishing because it pitted one team against the other. “The mixed team medal, it was like a one on one competition, either win it or lose. It actually felt like you-vs-me competition.” Her immediate goal? “Tomorrow I will listen to some music and unwind,” she said.
Now that she has transcended into the realm of greatness, things are going to change. But Manu would not like to dwell about the past too much. “I like to live in the present,” she said. Life will definitely change for her, even though she would want to 'keep it the same'. “I'm pretty sure many things will change after this. But I am not sure how it's going to be for me after this. Right now, I would like to live in the current moment. I am the kind of person who will savour one thing at a time and not dwell into the future as much so that you are not able to live in the present.”
Throughout the competition, Manu has been calm and composed. It is even more profound when she speaks about herself. What defines Manu? “I think of myself as a very disciplined child because when I was young, I was learning karate and my teachers and coaches were from the army, retired. So they were very strict with all of us. I think that taught me discipline and that taught me not to eat junk food and all.
“I am kind of outgoing. I am a social person. I am great socially but I'm a balance of introvert and extrovert. Then in shooting, I'm the kind of person who would fight. I am a fighter. I fight, I keep fighting on and on and on and every day. I have this routine and I will be consistent with it. Even if it's a victory, even if it was a loss for me here, I would still go out there. I will still keep going on and on and on until the time I will make my dream come true.”
Shooting is not just a passion for Manu. The sport has shaped her and made her who she is. It has taught her patience, and she felt no other life lesson would have taught her to be so patient. “I would get angry very quickly, angry at myself. I was an impulsive kind of a person. I would punch the ball, I would do all kinds of things earlier. But my sport has taught me so much patience that I couldn't imagine anything else could have taught me so much.”
Even after two medals, Tokyo still seems like a bad dream. She keeps referring to the Tokyo debacle as something that taught her how to face challenges and deal with setbacks.
“I learned so many lessons from Tokyo and so many things that I learned. I know that if I regret it or sit and cry over it, it will do me no good. I have become a practical person when it comes to the profession. So I tried to take out the lessons from whatever bad or whatever good went by in my career and I just try to channelise it in my future through my present.”
She loves to play the violin too but she has not got it with her here. Towards the evening, Manu swapped her training and competition gear for some casual wear as she came out of the Village for the first time. As of now, she would love to have some home-cooked food and some fun. After one week of insane madness, she deserves it.