Double Olympic medalist Manu Bhaker meets Sonia Gandhi in Delhi
Aug 07, 2024
New Delhi [India], August 7 : After returning to India from the Paris Olympics, double Olympic medallist in shooting, Manu Bhaker on Wednesday met Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi.
"Today Manu Bhaker, who brought glory to the country by winning two bronze medals at the Paris Olympics, met CPP Chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi," the Congress party said in a post on X.
https://x.com/INCIndia/status/1821212647292833939
Earlier in the day, the 22-year-old received a warm welcome at the Indira Gandhi International Airport after returning from Paris.
After reaching Delhi, Bhaker said that she was happy to be back and eating Indian food, something she missed at the Paris Olympics.
"It feels great the way I was welcomed at the airport and the hotel. I am very happy that the people of the country are supporting me like this. I have brought home 2 medals and a lot of inspiration and motivation to work harder in the future. At the time of the event, I was only thinking about my game and not about the medal. I could not eat Indian food for a long time but after coming here to Delhi, I had aloo paratha," Bhaker said.
The Paris Olympics has been a redemption for Manu Bhaker. During the 10m air pistol qualification round in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, her gun malfunctioned, which led to a loss of time. She was left with a very short amount of time to carry out her quota of shots. She missed the top-eight finish required to qualify for the final round and finished in the 12th spot.
Bhaker opened India's medal tally in the ongoing Olympics after she secured third place in the women's individual 10m Air pistol event, becoming the first-ever woman shooter to win an Olympic medal for India. Following that, Sarabjot Singh and Bhaker won the bronze medal in the 10m air pistol (mixed team) event, which was India's first-ever shooting team medal.
She had a shot at returning with three medals from Paris. But in her final event, she narrowly missed out on the historic grand treble and finished fourth in the women's 25m pistol shooting event. She missed out on the opportunity to become the first Indian to win three medals at the Olympics.
Bhaker is the first athlete from the Indian contingent after independence to get two medals in a single edition of the Paris Olympics.
