Paris Olympics: Jaspal Rana Says 'Once Thought of Never Coaching Manu Bhaker Again After Being Deemed Villain of Tokyo'

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For someone as impressive as Manu Bhaker, who has won international gold medals galore on the international stage, a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics may not mean much from a neutral point of view. Follow our elaborated Paris Olympics coverage

However, once you step into the Indian Olympic sports ecosystem, this bronze supersedes all of the gold medals combined at the World Shooting Championships and World Cups. And nobody understands that better than Jaspal Rana, who turned to coaching in the hunt for Olympic success after a glory-filled career, including four Asian Games gold medals.

Rana's unorthodox, yet effective, shooting methods built the shooter Manu Bhaker that we saw brimming with a confident smile on national television. The momentum was built from the Commonwealth Games success in the 2018 Gold Coast, where Manu won the 10m air pistol gold before turning 18. Those following the Indian shooting closely at that time truly believed that they were looking at a special talent as Manu Bhaker was still a junior-level shooter at that time.

The success was just the start of good things to come as hoards of medals at the junior and senior levels followed soon after. This had many, including the shooter and her coach, harbouring dreams of medal success at the Tokyo Olympics. All this happened at a time when Indian shooting was at an all-time high as far as nurturing talent is concerned.

Teen shooters kept popping up on the national stage and names such as Saurabh Chaudhary, Elavenil Valarivan, Abhishek Sahoo, and Anish Bhanwala among several others were not just collecting medals but breaking records at the international stage. Winning 16 quotas before the Tokyo 2020 soon created this bubble of hope that Indian shooters will end the disappointment of the Rio Olympics, where India fired blank.

However, the fiasco that followed in Tokyo was a reminder of the importance of experience, or lack of it in young Indian shooters, who buckled under pressure. Manu Bhaker was at the centre of all this as her temperament was questioned as the then 19-year-old Haryana girl faltered in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team final after setting the Olympics record at the qualification round.

The problem, however, started before she went to Tokyo as the teenager had a fallout with her Droncharya award-winning coach over his strict methods. Things, in fact, took an ugly turn as the details were soon public and made headlines. Jaspal Rana eventually didn't accompany her disciple to Tokyo and was deemed the reason behind the failure.

While it looked like an unfortunate and unwanted end to a medal-winning combination, it reminded Indian sporting fans of the infamous split of 'Indian Express' Leander Paes-Mahesh Bhupathi. However, as fate has it, the duo eventually came back together last year. For Jaspal Rana, it was not an easy decision to make.

Speaking to myKhel in a heart-to-heart conversation following the bronze medal triumph, Rana said that her disciple had to make a lot of effort to convince her.

"Manu reached out to me in 2023," said Jaspal Rana. "My initial response was not to accept the job of training her. But then I realised she is serious as she came to me with her mother. It required a lot of effort because after what had happened in Tokyo I was made the villain."

Recalling those dark days post-Tokyo Olympics, the now 48-year-old coach felt hard done. After all, his decision to coach that young talented kid Manu whom he spotted at a young age was not just a job for him.

"I never did anything wrong. I was only guiding her over the last 7-8 years when I took up the job to coach Manu, it was not really a job. I just wanted to deliver a medal first for India and then for the athlete, I have nothing to prove and whatever has been achieved in the journey," said Rana.

He further requested to the website that it must be mentioned that this decision wouldn't have been possible without IOA President PT Usha and people who made the effort to ensure he went to Paris with Manu when at one point he was struggling to find his place in the coaching staff quota. He spared special thoughts for Manu's parents Ramkishan and Sumita too, who decided to stay back in India this time.

"I am thankful everyone trusted me and I thank Manu's parents, her father that they allowed her to train with me to come to Paris alone. He did not want her parents to come to Paris and get distracted. It was my responsibility to protect her and ensure she could perform the best," said Jaspal Rana.

Despite being emotional on the day, Rana further added that he can't get too carried away at this point as the job is not done yet with Manu Bhaker will be competing in two more events and the duo has every intention to not just win more medals but change the colour of it too

"This is just the first medal for Manu has 2 more events after this and we will. Be training for it right away. Celebrations will wait in India," he said.

At the time of writing, Manu Bhaker has brought herself on the cusp of another medal as she paired up with Sarabjot Singh to qualify for the bronze medal match of the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event. The final is slated at July 30 afternoon at 1 PM IST.

Before signing off, Jaspal Rana says Manu Bhaker's medal has given the momentum that Indian shooters need as they will now feel the confidence to overcome that mental barrier at an event like the Olympics. The medal had its spiralling impact as Olympic debutant Arjun Babuta narrowly missed the medal in the men's 10m rifle event while Ramita Jindal finished seventh in a highly competitive field.

"We have seen many moments like this before in shooting competitions But the Olympics is the biggest stage and this medal is for India. This should open many more chances for the shooters, and it is my fortune that I am here with Manu again because her first international medal was also with me as her coach," said Rana.