The 21-year-old star Indian pistol shooter Manu Bhaker secured India’s first women’s pistol quota for the Paris 2024 Olympics after finishing fifth place in the women’s 25m pistol event at the Asian Shooting Championships 2023 in Changwon, the Republic of Korea.
On October 28, Manu Bhaker secured the Indian quota in the women’s 25m pistol event for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
In the women’s 25m pistol event at the Asian Shooting Championships 2023, although Manu was the top performer in the qualification with 591 points, she only managed to score 24 points in the final and finished fifth place after losing the shoot-off for a tied result.
Chinese Liu Rui (37), Zhao Nan (32), and Feng Sixuan (27) finished in the first, third and fourth places, respectively. Meanwhile, the Iranian Rostamiyan Haniyeh (36) won the silver medal in that event.
How did Manu Bhaker secure the Indian quota in the women’s 25m pistol event for the Paris 2024 Olympics?
While Iranian Haniyeh already secured a Paris 2024 Olympics quota for her nation, gold medalist Liu Rui sealed China's maximum two quotas in this event for the next Summer Olympics. It also meant that Zhao Nan and Feng Sixuan couldn’t affect China’s further quotas in this event for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
As the top two in this event would secure the national quotas for the Paris 2024 Olympics, the fifth-placed Manu Bhaker secured the Indian quota in the women’s 25m pistol event for the upcoming Summer Olympics.
It was the second pistol quota but the first women’s pistol quota for India for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Earlier, in this Asian Shooting Championships 2023, Sarabjot Singh confirmed the national quota in the men’s 10m air pistol event for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The Olympics' official website also confirmed that the National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games.
Who is Manu Bhaker?
Manu Bhaker has already recorded eight World Cup gold medals (including seven in team events), two World Cup silver medals (including one in team event), and three World Cup bronze medals (including one in team event).
Apart from winning four World Cup Finals, Manu also shined with four gold medals in junior events (including three in team events) out of six World Championships medals.
Manu also won a Youth Olympics gold medal in the 2018 edition in the women’s 10m air pistol youth event.
