Along With Shooting Bronze for Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh, Many Olympic Firsts
The Wire Staff
New Delhi: Manu Bhaker has become the first athlete of independent India to win two medals at a single edition of the Olympic games.
Days ago, Bhaker had ended India's 12-year wait for a shooting medal in the Olympics. She won bronze in the individual 10m air pistol event in Paris – becoming the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal in shooting.
Today, July 30, she and Sarabjot Singh have created history with the bronze medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event. The competition was held at the National Shooting Centre in Chateauroux of France. Bhaker and Singh defeated South Korea’s cracker team of Oh Ye Jin and Wonho Lee 16-10 in the bronze match. Oh had won the gold medal in the women’s 10m air pistol event, in which Bhaker had won bronze.
This was India’s sixth Olympic medal in shooting and first-ever in a shooting team event.
Many have claimed on social media that Bhaker has also become the first Indian sportsperson to win two medals at a single Olympics in over a century.
The Paris Olympics' website has noted that thee only other time that Indian shooters won two medals in shooting at a single edition of the Olympics was in London 2012 when Gagan Narang (men’s 10m air rifle) and Vijay Kumar (men’s 25m rapid fire pistol) won silver and bronze, respectively.
India had blanked in shooting events at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
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