Sacrificed her adolescence to dedicate medal to India

Manu Bhaker has won 24 medals in shooting more than her age so far

Jaswant Claudius

After winning the shooting medal in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Manu Bhaker has become a role model for today’s young generation. Perhaps no one knows what Manu lost and what she gained to reach this position. She was born on 18 February 2002 in a Jat family in Goriya village of Jhajjar district of Haryana. The daughter of an engineer father and an educationist mother was interested in sports since childhood. The biggest reason for this is the sports environment in the state of Haryana. Whether it is a boy or a girl, there is no gender discrimination in sports and the Haryana government encourages children from small to big to participate in sports through high training and other facilities for players. Haryana has the most favorable environment for sports as compared to any other state in India. The result of which is that in India, Haryana’s participants are ranked first to fourth in national level sports competitions. Manu Bhaker was also a player of Judo, Karate, Boxing, Skating and Athletics along with Shooting in her childhood but her first choice was Shooting for which Manu started practicing intensely. Seeing Manu’s interest, her father left his job. He arranged for a licensed pistol for Manu at the age of just 15 so that she could get an opportunity to move forward in the sport of Shooting. Manu Bhaker had educated, aware, capable parents, positive atmosphere of sports and luck but it was Manu Bhaker’s responsibility to dedicate herself mentally and physically to the sport of Shooting with full devotion. Childhood cannot be snatched away from a teenager of 13-14 years of age. It is common for the heart and mind to wander here and there at a young age, as in today’s modern era, nothing can be achieved by putting pressure on children. The most notable thing about Manu was that he sacrificed his childhood and adolescence for the sport of shooting.
The most notable thing about Manu was that she sacrificed her childhood and adolescence for the sport of shooting, proof of which is that at the age of just 15, Manu set a record in the world of shooting by winning nine gold medals by hitting the target accurately and precisely in the National Shooting Championship 2017 held in Kerala and a new star was born in the sports sky of India with shooting. This star named Manu Bhaker is shining like a divine star in the blue sky today by winning two bronze medals one after the other in the 10 meter air pistol shooting event and 10 meter air pistol mixed event with Sarabjot Singh for India in the Olympic Games. The engineer father gave up his job and paved the way for his daughter to move forward in shooting, on the other hand the daughter fulfilled the dreams of her parents and trainers on the strength of her sacrifice, dedication, hard work and patience. Manu, full of confidence due to the success she got in Kerala at the age of just 15, never looked back and forgetting her desires, dedicated herself to the nation of India through this sport. The result of which was that till now she has won 24 medals more than her age including 17 gold, 04 silver, 03 bronze in various international championships and handed them over to her parents, trainers, and encouragers. The 24 medals received came through Olympics, World Championship, Asian Games, World Cup, Youth Olympics, Junior World Championship and Commonwealth Games. In this journey of sports that started in 2017, not only success was achieved but the failure in Tokyo 2020 shattered Manu’s spirits, but with the support of parents, trainers and the morale hidden within her, Manu got out of despair.