Manu Bhaker Would Have Won 'Gold Medal' On The Day, Says Coach Jaspal Rana

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From being once considered a talent wasted to becoming the first athlete to win two medals at an Olympics for an independent India, Manu Bhaker at 22 has made herself an icon that will inspire generations to come. Follow Paris Olympics 2024

To understand the magnitude of what she has achieved, one needs to look at the stature, respect and recognition of the likes of Neeraj Chopra (India's first Olympic champion in athletics), Abhinav Bindra (India's first individual Olympic Champion), Mary Kom (India's first women boxing medallist) enjoy among the masses of the country.

And among this handful of firsts in the Indian Olympics history, Manu Bhaker has now found her own place as the first Indian athlete to win two medals that too in a space of two days, inspiring a generation of athletes to come.

Now call us greedy but the nation is now harbouring the dreams of having our first athlete who won three medals at one Olympics. That's because shooting star Manu Bhaker, who will compete in her forte 25m pistol next, is shooting at a different level all together in comparison to her compatriots.

While we saw some of the shooters falter at the decisive stages of medal rounds -- reminded of the similar stories by the ghosts of the Olympics past --, Manu's precision in the high-pressure situations was palpable.

And this time a bronze medal may not please many. May not please the shooter herself, who would surely be aiming to change the colour of the medal. Her coach and Indian shooting legend Jaspal Rana had no doubt about it either.

"I know it's too much to ask, but we will give our 100%, and that's (25m Pistol) the main event for Manu," Jaspal Rana told myKhel. "But I don't think that's matter now, because I can proudly say that, if you see her in the past she was one of the best shooters in all pistol events.

"Even if you see today (during 10m pistol mixed team event) her shooting was was amazing and I am sure if with this score that even if it was a gold medal match, I am sure we'd have got the gold medal. There was no chance with this kind of shooting there would have mistake. But nevertheless, I'm happy and Time to gear up again the day after tomorrow's match."

Coach Rana, who was emotional the last time we spoke to him, was a proud coach this time as he felt that her disciple only became stronger every time she was pushed to the wall while recalling the tough days of pre- and post-Olympics that they suffered together and apart.

"I give credit to everyone (for this piece of history). Everyone who stood by us in good and bad times. Even those who created all that trouble, all the problems, because that made her much stronger.

"I love to take challenges. And yes, I've got a lot of them. Unfortunately or fortunately, I had a lot of them but we managed to bypass, not a lot of them, but everything came pretty handy and she became much stronger," said Rana, who is known to be the man who likes to mince no words.

The very strength of Manu Bhaker is probably the reason behind her rise from the ashes as a legend of Indian sports at such a young age. What remains to be seen is if the athlete has a hunger for more, especially when she has nothing to prove to anyone, anymore.