Pistol Queen Manu Bhaker brought glory to India by winning the country’s first medal in the Paris Olympics. But this achievement was not so easy. A top player gets a chance to win an Olympic medal after years of hard work and sweat, which was no different for 22-year-old shooter Manu Bhaker. The bitter experience of Tokyo Olympics kept bothering her again and again. Once she felt like quitting shooting. But then the tea kettle and the threat of a 400 euro fine from her guru gave her such strength that today the whole country is proud of her.
After winning the medal, Manu Bhaker said, I have become very religious after the Tokyo Olympics. I feel that there is an energy that guides us. Protects us. We should have some faith in God. But what she told after this is very interesting. Manu Bhaker told that she was very stressed after the Tokyo Olympics. But when she saw coach Jaspal Rana standing in the stands, she got courage. This is the result of all the hard work we did together. The coach had set a clear target for me. If I failed to beat his score, I had to pay a fine. This money was used to help the needy around the world.
When thousands of rupees worth of jaggery was bought to feed the cows
Manu said, the way of working of the coach is completely different. He used to set targets. If you don’t do that, then you have to donate the marks that were less in that score. Suppose we set a target of 582 and I scored 578, then those four marks will be equal to 40 euros. Sometimes it can be 400 euros depending on the country. Rana said, I remember that once in Dehradun, he bought jaggery worth thousands of rupees to feed the cows. This money is also used to feed beggars around the world. He said, recently we were in Luxembourg and he gave 40 euros to artists in a restaurant.
Immediately caught a flight to Delhi
While talking to Indian Express, Manu Bhaker narrated the story of the tea kettle. She said, I was spending my holidays in Cherai, Kerala, when I got inspiration from the tea kettle. It so happened that I was alone in the hotel. Then I picked up the tea kettle. It was full of water. At that time I was getting restless. I needed to return. Lifting a filled kettle is a part of the practice of shooters. From here again I thought why not try this once again. I will return only after winning the battle. And then took the next flight to Delhi and returned to the range. Whatever I have achieved today, it has also contributed a lot to it.
Tags: 2024 paris olympics, India news, Paris olympics 2024, Sports news
FIRST PUBLISHED : July 29, 2024, 24:40 IST
