Manu Bhaker made history by becoming the first Indian woman shooter to win an Olympic medal, earning a bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol event at the Paris Olympics on Sunday. She narrowly missed the silver by just 0.1 points behind Kim Yeji, who secured the silver, while fellow Korean Oh Ye Jin took the gold.
Three years after a malfunctioning pistol disrupted her Tokyo Olympics, the 22-year-old returned to claim bronze, finishing behind the two South Korean shooters. With nine World Cup medals to her name, she is now the fifth Indian to win an Olympic medal in shooting.
On the first day of the Paris Olympics, Manu Bhaker scored 580 in the women’s 10m air pistol qualification rounds, placing her third. She also achieved the highest number of Perfect Scores (27) in the qualifiers, easily advancing to the final.
This achievement made Manu Bhaker the first Indian woman shooter in 20 years to reach an Olympic final in an individual event. The last Indian woman to achieve this was Suma Shirur in the 10m air rifle event at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
Manu Bhaker is also the first Indian woman to qualify for the 10m air pistol women’s final round at any Olympics.
Here is the complete list of Indian shooting medalists at the Olympics:
| Shooter | Event | Medal | Olympics |
| Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore | Men’s double trap | Silver | Athens 2004 |
| Abhinav Bindra | Men’s 10m air rifle | Gold | Beijing 2008 |
| Gagan Narang | Men’s 10m air rifle | Bronze | London 2012 |
| Vijay Kumar | Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol | Silver | London 2012 |
| Manu Bhaker | Women’s 10m air pistol | Bronze | Paris 2024 |
Prior to the Paris Olympics 2024, no woman had won any of India’s four Olympic shooting medals. The final medals were won by Gagan Narang in the men’s 10m air rifle and Vijay Kumar in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol at the 2012 Olympics.
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