Manu Bhaker turned 23 on 18 February 2025, and she was awarded the most prestigious BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year a day before on 17 February. No gift could have matched the honour more than this.
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is an annual award given to the most outstanding Indian female athletes of various sports for their achievements over the past year. This was the fifth edition of the award ceremony where a panel of Indian sports journalists and experts voted to choose the nominees, after which public voting was conducted to decide the winner.
After a global public vote, she was chosen for the honour. She expressed her gratitude in her acceptance speech, “I thank BBC for honouring me. A few years ago, I won the Emerging Player award and now this year I got the big one. My journey was full of ups and downs.”
“After Tokyo, I struggled a lot, lost many events but journey didn’t end, it continued. You can only write your own story and I did that in Paris. Now the journey will continue, and I would like to change the colour of the medal in Los Angeles (2028 Olympics).” she added.
Manu Bhaker etched her name in history by winning the first Olympic medal in women’s shooting. She won a bronze medal in the Paris Olympics in 2024. She also became the first Indian athlete after independence to win several medals at a single Olympic game after she won another bronze in the mixed team event with Sarabjot Singh.
She was also awarded the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award by the government of India, it is the most prestigious award in the sports category in the country.
Other notable awardees include Mithali Raj who won the Lifetime Achievement Award and Sheetal Devi won the BBC Emerging Player of the Year after she became India’s youngest Paralympic medallist. She won a bronze medal in the mixed-team compound event at the Paralympic Games 2024.
Avani Lekhara also won the Indian Para-sportswoman of the Year who became the first Indian woman to win a gold medal at the Paralympics in 2021. She also set a world record of 249.6 in the R-2 women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 event.
Also Read: India’s Olympic Journey: Highs, Lows, and Future Prospects
