Teenage shooting sensation Manu Bhaker: Air of confidence beyond years

KOCHI: For her opponents and for the world watching, it was a shocker as 16-year-old Manu Bhaker marked her international debut with a gold medal during Day 2 of the ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico on Sunday. But for those who have watched her fledgling career closely, it was no surprise. The shooter from Haryana has been the talk of Indian shooting for the last year, winning nine gold medals in the 61st National Shooting Championship last December as well as surpassing the national record of seasoned star Heena Sidhu on the way.

On Sunday, with less than two years of experience, Bhaker overcame a strong challenge from host nation’s Alejandra Zavala Vazquez to win the women’s 10m air pistol by shooting 237.5 points — 0.4 points more than the 33-year-old hometown favourite.In doing so, Bhaker proved that she has truly arrived in the international arena. “She has only been part of the junior national team since 2017 but has shown tremendous potential and improvement in results over that short period of time,” said Priti Sharma, the national junior pistol coach.

For Bhaker herself, the win in 2018’s first World Cup is “going to be a game changer”. “I can almost call it a miracle as I was not at all expecting to do this well in my World Cup debut. It was a challenging match but it wasn’t as tough as I expected,” Bhaker told Express from Guadalajara.The part about a lack of competition was true as third-placed Celine Goberville of France, who won silver at the London Olympics, only hit 217 points. But the battle between Bhaker and Zavala went down to the wire, only to be decided in the final shot when Bhaker hit 10.7 and the Mexcian only managed 8.8.

“The chances were slim, but I tried to concentrate just on my shot and told myself not to be worried about the colour of the medal,” said Bhaker, who first picked up a pistol in April 2016 and is now the youngest Indian to win a World Cup gold.

Travelling with big-name shooters and getting expert knowhow from national coaches have all been a relatively new experience for the youngster. “All of them have been very helpful. I am more open to people like Jitu Rai, Om Prakash Mitharwal and Shahzar Rizvi as they are also doing air pistol,” she said.
She now has the Commonwealth Games to look forward to. ”This result has given me plenty of confidence. I want to continue doing well in all the junior and senior World Cups as well as the Commonwealth Games and the Youth Olympics later this year,” said Bhaker. With the rapid progress Bhaker has been making, it is only natural for her ambitions to drift into an Olympic medal. “If she can continue in the same vein, there is no doubt that she can be a contender for a medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games,” said Priti.

adwaidh@newindianexpress.com