In a moment when any 19-year-old would be devastated by tragedy, India’s pistol shooter Manu Bhaker put on a brave face and even braver performance on the greatest platform of all. Manu experienced a weapon malfunction during the women’s 10m air pistol qualification on Sunday at the Tokyo Olympics. The lever on her gun, which must be lifted and pushed to load a pellet, broke off in the midst of the second series. While it was being addressed, a flaw in the pistol’s electrical circuit was apparently identified.
So, while the rest of the field took their time shooting the requisite 60 rounds in 75 minutes, Bhaker had to sacrifice 17 minutes of that time to fix her pistol.
Bhaker got out to a fast start, earning 98 points in her first ten strokes. However, at 156, she noticed a problem with her weapon. She consulted instructor Ronak Pandit, who discovered that a mechanism in the pistol was damaged, preventing the barrel from moving smoothly.
The jury was made aware of the problem, but instead of replacing the complete pistol, they agreed to replace the faulty component. So, by the time she returned to the track after replacing the spare component, she had already lost six minutes.
When she regained her calm and resumed firing, she had lost some momentum. Despite this, she hit a perfect 10 in the following four shots and then went on to shoot 94, 95, and 98 in the next three 10-shot series. Her final stroke, however, only yielded an eight, leaving her two points shy of the needed total. If she had received another ten points, she would have been equal with Celine Goberville of France and Olena Kostevych and would have advanced if she had received a better score in the final set.
Pandit, on the other hand, is pleased with Bhaker’s performance and describes the situation as “unfortunate."
Heena Sidhu, a two-time Olympian and fellow pistol shooter, also defended Bhaker by tweeting, “For all the people who are quick to judge that Manu succumbed to pressure. I just got to know what happened to her equipment in detail and how much time she lost. She didn’t succumb to pressure she rose to it. Giving a score of 575 in less than 34 mins is an achievement of her nerves.”
“Papa, dekhti hu kab tak kismat mujh se naraz rehti hai (let me see how long fate can’t be on my side)," Olympic debutant Bhaker told her father over the call from Tokyo following the disappointing miss, according to TOI.
Bhaker, on the other hand, will compete in the mixed team event as well as the 25m pistol event on July 27 and July 30, respectively. Not to mention that it took three Olympics for shooting heroes Gagan Narang and Abhinav Bindra to win an Olympic medal.
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