‘Happy to get so much love here’: Olympic double medalist Manu Bhaker returns to hero’s welcome

NEW DELHI: Olympic double medallist in shooting, Manu Bhaker, expressed her feelings after receiving a warm welcome at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi on Wednesday following the shooter’s outstanding performance. Bhaker will return to Paris on August 10 as she is the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent during the closing ceremony of the games.

Bhaker’s coach, Jaspal Rana, also accompanied her. Bhaker showed a glimpse of her medals to the fans who welcomed her. “I am so happy to get so much love here…” Bhaker said. She said that she was happy to be back and eating Indian food, something she missed at the Paris Olympics.

#WATCH | Double Olympic medalist Manu Bhaker receives a grand welcome after she arrives at Delhi airport after her historic performance in #ParisOlympics2024

She won bronze medals in Women’s 10m Air Pistol & the 10m Air Pistol Mixed team event. pic.twitter.com/rcVgqkaxjP

— ANI (@ANI) August 7, 2024

“It feels great the way I was welcomed at the airport and the hotel. I am very happy that the people of the country are supporting me like this. I have brought home two medals and a lot of inspiration and motivation to work harder in the future. At the time of the event, I was only thinking about my game and not about the medal. I could not eat Indian food for a long time but after coming here to Delhi, I had aloo paratha”, she said.

Bhaker brought her A-game to Paris and broke numerous accolades to claim two bronze medals in the Summer Games.

#WATCH | Delhi: Double Olympic medalist Manu Bhaker says “It feels great the way I was welcomed at the airport and the hotel. I am very happy that the people of the country are supporting me like this. I have brought home 2 medals and a lot of inspiration and motivation to work… pic.twitter.com/ocdpFqKLaJ

— ANI (@ANI) August 7, 2024

The Paris Olympics has been a redemption for the 22-year-old shooter. During the 10m air pistol qualification round in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, her gun malfunctioned, which led to a loss of time. She was left with very little amount of time to carry out her quota of shots. She missed the top-eight finish required to qualify for the final round and finished in the 12th spot.

Bhaker opened India’s medal tally in the ongoing Olympics after she secured third place in the women’s individual 10m Air pistol event, becoming the first-ever woman shooter to win an Olympic medal for India. Following that, Sarabjot Singh and Bhaker won the bronze medal in the 10m air pistol (mixed team) event, which was India’s first-ever shooting team medal.

She had a shot at returning with three medals from Paris. But in her final event, she narrowly missed out on the historic grand treble and finished fourth in the women’s 25m pistol shooting event. She missed out on the opportunity to become the first Indian to win three medals at the Olympics.

Bhaker is the first athlete from the Indian contingent after independence to get two medals in a single edition of the Paris Olympics. In the 1900 Olympics, Norman Pritchard won two medals while representing India, both silver in the 200m and 200m hurdles.

Bhaker also joined an elite group of athletes to have multiple individual medals at the Olympics: PV Sindhu (badminton silver at Rio 2016 and bronze medal at Tokyo 2020) and Sushil Kumar (wrestling bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics). (ANI)