Manu Bhaker with her bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Manu Bhaker, showcasing remarkable resilience, ended India’s 12-year drought for an Olympic shooting medal by becoming the first Indian markswoman to secure a podium finish with a bronze in the 10m air pistol event at the Paris Games on Sunday.
India’s last Olympic shooting medals were won at the 2012 London Games, where rapid-fire pistol shooter Vijay Kumar and 10m air rifle marksman Gagan Narang each clinched bronze.
After two Olympics without a shooting medal, the 22-year-old Manu Bhaker fought hard to earn the bronze with a score of 221.7
Altogether, Bhaker is the eighth Indian woman to win an Olympic medal. Here is a walk down memory lane, starting with Karnam Malleswari, the first Indian woman to win a Olympic medal, and leading up to Lovelina Borgohain, the one who preceded Bhaker.
Karnam Malleswari
Karnam Malleswari added a glorious chapter to Indian sports history on September 19, 2000 at the Sydney International Convention Centre by becoming the first Indian woman to gain an Olympic medal. The bronze medal in the 69-kg category of the weightlifting championship was for a career-best 240 kg. At that time, she joined the only two other individual sportspersons, wrestler K. D. Jadhav who won a wrestling bronze in Helsinki in 1952, and Leander Paes who also won a tennis bronze in 1996 at Atlanta.
Saina Nehwal
On August 4, 2012, Saina became only the second Indian woman after Malleswari, to win an Olympic medal for India. Saina Nehwal was at the mercy of the Chinese Wang Xin, but Lady Luck smiled on her. In an unexpected twist to the story, Saina won the badminton bronze in the women’s singles as Xin retired with a painful knee while leading 21-18, 1-0.
After a hesitant start, with the short-built Chinese athlete making a clutch of errors, giving Saina a 5-2 lead, there was a dramatic change in the flow of the match as the Chinese won 12 points to one. But the fighter in Saina came out as she slowly got back into the game — first with a drop and then winning a brilliant long rally — to make it 10-15. But the errors in Saina’s game continued even as the Chinese hurried her with a sharp game. From 10-17, Saina did fight to make it 18-20 before the Chinese, going for a smash on match point, slipped and fell at the baseline. There was quick medical attention, and Wang Xin returned after three minutes with her left knee taped, and promptly smashed a return to win the first game.
Wang wore a knee-cap above the tape to resume the contest in the second game. She delivered a successful drop with a return of serve to win the first point, but fell down in pain, unable to stand. It was evident it was all over, and the match ended after just 26 minutes. Saina was concerned and moved to her opponent’s side, even as a wheel chair rolled in to take the Chinese for further medical attention. Wang soon conceded the match much to the discomfiture of a strong crowd that was evenly divided between India and China.
Mary Kom
On August 8, 2012, home favourite Nicola Adams confirmed the bronze medal for Mary Kom as she beat the five-time world champion 11-6 in the semi-finals of the women’s boxing flyweight (51kg). “The whole country was wishing me luck and praying for me. I am very sorry. I couldn’t come with the gold. But, I am happy that at least I have won an Olympic medal for which I have been dreaming about for so many years,” said Mary at that time.
Sakshi Malik
Sakshi Malik from Rohtak, Haryana became the toast of the nation with a hard-fought win against Asian champion Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyztan on August 17, 2016. She inforced the toughness of Indian women as she turned her bronze medal bout around in the last nine seconds in the women’s freestyle 58kg event. After trailing 0-5 in the first round of three minutes against Tynybekova, Sakshi kept inching closer to the medal by bridging the gap. When it became 5-5 there were only nine seconds on the clock in the second round.
In a final thrust of power and aggression, not to forget clarity of intent, Sakshi pounced on her opponent and turned her around for the clincher, which won eight technical points in all for her. Her exasperated opponent drew a blank in the second round after such a flying start. Sakshi was declared a 3-1 winner on points and it wasdifficult for her opponent, to accept the verdict. She appealed for a video referral but it was turned down. She was reluctant to shake hands. The referee had to drag her by the hand to declare the winner and complete the formalities on the mat.
Pusarla Venkata Sindhu
It was a brave attempt by P.V. Sindhu to join shooter Abhinav Bindra as an individual Olympic gold medal-winning Indian, but found the two-time World champion Carolina Marin of Spain a hard nut to crack in an intense final at the Rio Olympics on August 19, 2016, and had to settle for silver. In the process, Sindhu became the first woman from India to clinch an Olympic silver, and the second to win a badminton medal after Saina Nehwal.
In the gold medal clash, Marin played fluently despite dropping her only game in the whole tournament, and registered a 19-21, 21-12, 21-15 victory. The final was an epic battle that lasted an hour and 22 minutes and saw the momentum swing both ways before the Spaniard prevailed.
On August 1, 2021, she wrote her name into the history books with a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics. The badminton star became the first Indian woman to win two Olympics medals, with her latest effort being a follow-up to the silver at the previous Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. In the third place play-off, she defeated He Bingjiao of China 21-13, 21-15. It was a clash that the Hyderbadi pocketed with ease.
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu
It was an incredible day for India at the Tokyo Olympics as Mirabai Chanu won a silver in the 49 kg weightlifting category on July 24, 2021. Hailing from Manipur, the Olympian lifted a total of 202 kg to emerge second behind China’s Hou Zhihui, who won the gold at 210 kg. Mirabai lifted 87 kg in snatch and in the clean and jerk segment, she hoisted 115 kg and helped India win its first medal in Tokyo.
Lovlina Borgohain
Lovlina Borgohain finished with a bronze after being outpunched by world champion and Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey in a women’s 69kg semifinal bout on August 4, 2021. Lovlina, a double Worlds bronze medallist, gave it her best shot before losing 0-5 in the bout thoroughly dominated by Surmeneli. After Vijender Singh (2008) and M.C. Mary Kom (2012), the Assamese woman has become the third Indian boxer to claim an Olympics bronze.
