"Parents Would Be More Flexible": Manu Bhaker On Historic Olympic Medals

In a candid interview with NDTV, Indian shooter Manu Bhaker spoke on her achievements at the recently-concluded Paris Olympics 2024, where she won two bronze medals. Manu, who is the first Indian woman to win a medal in shooting at the Summer games, became the first Indian athlete to win multiple medals in the same edition of the Olympics. This was Manu's second appearance at the Olympics after her outing in Tokyo three years back when she suffered a heartbreak due to a pistol malfunction.

Manu revealed that she had a different regime for Paris 2024, and expressed her happiness that things went in her favour this time.

"I've already had a long career, eight years to be precise. I was there at the Tokyo Olympics as well. But this time, for Paris Olympics, we trained in a way that we were hoping for medals. We planned in a way that things turn out good and this worked in our favour this time. For me, sometimes it is hard to manage everything," Manu said during an exclusive chat with NDTV.

Manu also suggested that her achievements would motivate other to take up shooting as a career, especially girls.

"Any achievement is enough to give us motivation but that doesn't mean its the end. In India, we have huge scope to improve and work forward. I think India has a huge amount of talent. I think it will take some time but we will have great talents in the future. My medal also inspires me and other youngsters, especially girls. I think the parents would be much more flexible with the girls, and the people would accept shooting more after this celebration," she added.

The 22-year-old won a bronze each in the women's 10m air pistol and 10m air pistol mixed team event -- where she had paired with Sarabjot Singh.

She also came close to winning a third bronze in 25m pistol before finishing a creditable fourth in Paris. No Indian athlete has won more than two individual medals at the Olympics.