Manu Bhaker opened up after a disappointing campaign at the ISSF World Championships in Cairo where she missed out on a medal. She shot superbly in the rapid-fire rounds and scored 586 points to comfortably move into the top eight.
In the final, however, she bowed out by just two shots in the shootout, while Esha Singh and France’s Mathilde Lamolle shot perfect fives to advance.
20-year-old Esha later made a four to secure the medal before retiring after the ninth set as Yang Jiin eventually edged out Yao Qianxun for the gold. Manu praised Esha for her bronze performanceadds that in sports no one wins every day, failures are inevitable.
“I was aiming (for a medal) at the World Championships. My performance was good, I scored decently, I couldn’t get on the podium. My teammate Esha Singh did it… in sports you can’t win every day, sometimes you also lose,”
“For me, it’s that India should win a medal and it shouldn’t be about me or anyone else winning it. As long as India wins any medal, I’m rooting for it, whatever the sport,” she added.
Manu also had words of praise for the specially-abled athletes, saying they serve as an inspiration to everyone.
Indian shooters opened the country’s medal tally at the ongoing Tokyo Deaflympics where Dhanush Srikanth defended his men’s 10m air rifle title in a record setting a new world mark with a score of 252.2. Mohammad Vania complemented this performance by winning silver in the same event.
MANU IN THE ROUGH PATCH
It came as a surprise to many in the shooting fraternity that Manu Bhaker was not among India’s 13 medalists at the recently concluded World Championships. After peaking at the Paris Olympics, Bhaker has been looking to hit his best form this year.
Her bronze medal in the women’s 10 m air pistol discipline at the Asian Shooting Championships in August remains one of her few standout performances in 2025.
Last year in Paris, Bhaker made history by becoming the first athlete from independent India to win two medals in a single Olympics.
– The end
Issued by:
sabyasachi chowdhury
Published on:
November 18, 2025
