Manu Bhaker (born 18 February 2002) is an Indian sport shooter. She has 2 medals at the Olympic Games, 23 medals at the World Championships and World Cups, as well as 12 medals at the Asian Games and Asian Championships. At the 2024 Olympics, she became the first Indian woman shooter to win a medal by clinching the bronze in the 10m pistol event. She won another bronze in 10m pistol mixed team, becoming the first Indian to win two medals in a single Olympic Games. Bhaker is also the youngest Indian to win gold medals at the World Cup.
She has won gold at the Commonwealth and Asian Games. While she won the gold at the 2022 Asian Games in the women's 25m pistol team event, Bhaker won the gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the 10-metre air pistol event. She set a Commonwealth Games record during the same edition. In 2018, a 16 year old Bhaker was the youngest Indian to win gold at the World Cup.
Early life Bhaker was born in Goria village of Jhajjar district in Haryana. Her father Ram Kishan Bhaker is a chief engineer in the Merchant Navy. Her mother, Sumedha Bhaker, is a former school principal with a master's in Sanskrit, who hails from an educationist family of Kalali village in Charkhi Dadri.
Bhaker did her schooling at Universal Higher Senior Secondary School in Goria, which was started by her grandfather Raj Karan. During her schooling, she participated in sports such as tennis, skating, Manipuri martial-art thang-ta and boxing. She earned several medals at the National Games in these sports. As a 14-year-old, she decided to focus on the sport of shooting, and with an investment of ₹1,50,000 by her father, she started her training.
Her mother provided guidance throughout her schooling, and introduced her to the Bhagavad Gita which helped Bhaker cope during her tense times.
At a young age of 15, Bhaker became one of the top female shooters in India, winning multiple gold medals at the 2017 National games. Along with her sports, she kept her education going and went on to study Political Science at Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi, graduating in 2022. Later obtained a masters in Public Administration at DAV College, Chandigarh in 2024. She is currently pursuing a Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Management at Indian Institute of Management Rohtak.
Career Beginnings (2016–2020) In 2016, Bhaker started training with her first coach, Anil Jakhar and prepared for the junior world tournaments. She earned her first success at the international level when she won the silver medal at the 2017 Asian Junior Championships. In the 2017 National games held at Kerala, Bhaker won nine gold medals and defeated multiple World Cup medalist Heena Sidhu and broke Sidhu's record of 240.8 points, scoring 242.3 points in the final.
In the 2018 International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup held at Guadalajara, Mexico. Bhaker won the gold medal in the Women's 10-meter air pistol, defeating Mexico's Alejandra Zavala, a two-time champion. Bhaker scored 237.5 the final match against Zavalaa, who scored 237.1.
Bhaker won her second gold medal at the World Cup in the 10-meter Air Pistol mixed team event. She was paired with fellow countryman Om Prakash Mitharval. The pair shot a score of 476.1 points, defeating Sandra Reitz and Christian Reitz who scored 475.2.
Bhaker scored 388/400 points at 2018 Commonwealth Games in women's 10m air pistol qualifying round and qualified for the finals. In the final round of the women's 10m air pistol event during the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, she secured the gold medal with setting a new Commonwealth Games record of 240.9 points.
In 2018 Asian Games, she scored a game's record score of 593 in the qualification round of 25m Air pistol event. But she failed to win a medal there, as she finished 6th in the final. Eventually, her compatriot Rahi Sarnobat clinched the Gold in this event.
At the Youth Olympics 2018, Manu Bhaker shot 236.5 to stand at the top of the points table in the women's 10m air pistol event. The Indian flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the Youth Olympics is also the World Cup and Commonwealth Games gold medalist. The 16-year-old Manu became the first shooter from India and the first female athlete from India to grab a gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games.
In 2018, national pistol coach Jaspal Rana was the mentor for Bhaker and said that “ Manu is mentally very strong" and we need to groom talented shooters like her for the 2020 Olympics”.
In February 2019 she won the gold medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event at 2019 ISSF World Cup in Delhi.
In May 2019 she qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 10m pistol event via a fourth place finish at the Munich ISSF World Cup. This came days after her pistol jammed in the finals of the 25m pistol event when she was leading, eventually forcing her to forfeit due to her gun not being able to fire.
In all the four Pistol & Rifle ISSF World Cups in 2019, she won the gold medal in the 10m air pistol mixed event with Saurabh Chaudhry as her partner, making the pair a strong contender for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Rising star (2021–2024) In the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics, Bhaker faced multiple problems, including pistol malfunction, which led to her missing the finals for both the 10m and 25m air pistol. She partnered Saurabh Chaudhary in the mixed 10m air pistol team, but in spite of finishing the qualifying round with the highest score, she finished only eighth in the next round and missed the final. After the Tokyo Olympics, she was very disappointed but soon found motivation from the Bhagavad Gita verses such as “Focus on karma, not on the outcome of the karma.”
At the 2022 Asian Games, Bhaker won the team gold for India in the women's 25m pistol team event, along with Esha Singh and Rhythm Sangwan.
In 2023, Bhaker re-united with her coach, Jaspal Rana, to prepare for the 2024 Olympics, and the reinstatement of Rana was supported by IOC president PT Usha. Rana developed a rigorous training schedule for Bhaker by replicating the routine of Olympic matches in their daily schedule.
At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Bhaker won two bronze medals. First, she won bronze in the women's 10 metre air pistol event, becoming the first female shooter from India to win a medal at any Olympics. Next, she won another bronze medal in the mixed 10 metre air pistol team event, wherein she partnered with fellow team mate, Sarabjot Singh. She became the first Indian to win two medals at an Olympics since independence of India. Bhaker has credited her coach, Jaspal Rana for helping her win the double bronze medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In 2025, she was awarded the Khel Ratna, India's highest sporting honour, for her consistent performance in shooting, making her the youngest Indian shooter to receive the award.
Performance record Olympic Games YearVenueEventRankScore2020 Tokyo10m air pistol women12th575 Tokyo25m pistol women15th582 Tokyo10m air pistol mixed team7thStage 1: 582Stage 2: 3802024 Paris10m air pistol women3rdQualification: 580Final: 221.72024 Paris10m air pistol mixed team3rdQualification: 580Final: 16–102024 Paris25m pistol women4thQualification: 590Final: 28
World Championship YearVenueEventRankScore2018 Changwon10m air pistol women13thScore: 574Mixed team 10m air pistol women12thScore: 76725m pistol women10thScore: 584
World Cup YearVenueEventRankScore2021New Delhi10m air pistol women2ndScore: 577Final: 236.72019Putian10m air pistol women1stScore: 578Final: 244.72019Munich10m air pistol women4thScore: 582Final: 201.02019New Delhi10m air pistol women14thScore: 5732019Beijing10m air pistol women17thScore: 5752018Guadalajara10m air pistol women1stScore: 772Final: 337.52018Changwon10m air pistol women30thScore: 5712018Munich10m air pistol women47thScore: 567
YearVenueEventRankScore2018Guadalajara25m pistol women5thScore: 581Final: 192019New Delhi25m pistol women5thScore: 590Final: 22Munich25m pistol women5thScore: 585Final: 21Beijing25m pistol women17thScore: 82
YearVenueEventRankScore2021New DelhiMixed 10m air pistolScore: 384Final:162019PutianMixed 10m air pistolScore: 387Final: 17New DelhiMixed 10m air pistolScore: 778Final: 483.4BeijingMixed 10m air pistolScore: 482Final: 16MunichMixed 10m air pistolScore: 591Final: 172018GuadalajaraMixed 10m air pistolScore: 770Final: 476.1ChangwonMixed 10m air pistol4thScore: 778Final: 378.6MunichMixed 10m air pistol34thScore: 758
Youth Olympics YearVenueEventRankScore2018Buenos Aires10m air pistol womenScore: 576Final: 236.5Mixed team 10m air pistolScore: 751Final: 3
Junior World Championship YearVenueEventRankScore2021Lima10m air pistol womenScore: 574Final: 241.3
Junior World Cup YearVenueEventRankScore2018Sydney10-meter air pistol womenScore: 570Final: 235.9Mixed team 10m pistol airScore: 770Final: 478.925m pistol women4thScore: 574Final: 18Suhl10m air pistol womenScore: 573Final: 242.525m pistol women5thScore: 579Final: 19Mixed team 10m air pistolScore: 766Final: 474.4
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Result Ref2019Delhi Sports Journalists AwardsBest Sportsperson of the YearIndian Sports HonoursEmerging Sportswoman of the YearWomen's Breakthrough of the Year2020Arjuna AwardOutstanding Performance in Sports2021BBC AwardsSportswoman of the YearEmerging Sportswoman of the Year2024BBC AwardsSportswoman of the YearIndian Sports HonoursSportswoman of the Year2025Khel Ratna AwardSpectacular Performance in SportsSportstar AwardsSportstar of the Year FemaleSportswoman of the YearBBC AwardsSportswoman of the YearTimes of India Sports AwardsSportsperson of the Year FemaleShooter of the Year FemaleBhogeswar Baruah National Sports AwardsSportsperson of the Year
References
External links
Manu Bhaker at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics (archived, alternate link)