Manu Bhaker failed to make the final of the Women’s 10m air pistol at the Tokyo Olympics after a weapon malfunction ruined her qualification round. She finished 12th with a score of 575-14x while her compatriot Yashaswini Deswal came 13th with a score of 574-11x. Vitalina Batsarashkina (ROC) won gold, Bulgaria's Antoaneta Kostadinova won silver, and China's Jiang Ranxin bagged bronze.
The only Indian shooter to compete in three events (air pistol, sports pistol and mixed air pistol), Manu won five successive gold medals at World Cups with Saurabh Chaudhary and silver at the last World Cup in Osijek, Croatia.
She has consistently shown in international competitions her ability to put up big scores. Bhaker is capable of winning medals in all the three events and was able to convince the selection panel that she was better than world No. 1 Chinki Yadav in the sports pistol.
Deswal, the other Indian shooter in the fray, had won the World Cup in Delhi this season after shooting a modest 579 in qualification. She won the World Cup gold in Rio in 2019 and made the final of this season’s Osijek World Cup where she was placed eighth.
More to follow...