Manu Bhaker's Triumphant Return: A Historic Redemption

Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker received a warm welcome at the Delhi airport after her stellar performance in the Paris Olympics. Bhaker, who claimed two bronze medals, is the first Indian female shooter to achieve this feat. She expressed joy over the love and support from fans and missed Indian food.

Double Olympic medallist in shooting, Manu Bhaker, expressed her feelings after receiving a warm welcome at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi on Wednesday following her outstanding performance. Bhaker will return to Paris on August 10 as she is the flag bearer of the Indian contingent during the closing ceremony of the games. Accompanied by her coach, Jaspal Rana, she showed a glimpse of her medals to the fans who had gathered at the airport.

'I am so happy to get so much love here,' Bhaker told ANI. She added that she was thrilled to be back and to finally eat Indian food, which she missed during her time 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,' said Bhaker. '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 brought her A-game to Paris, breaking numerous accolades to claim two bronze medals in the Summer Games. For the 22-year-old, the Paris Olympics had been a redemption. She had faced significant challenges during the 10m air pistol qualification round in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 due to a malfunction in her gun, which resulted in missing the top-eight finish required to progress to the final by a narrow margin.

Bhaker kickstarted India's medal tally in the ongoing Olympics by securing third place in the women's individual 10m air pistol event, becoming the first-ever woman shooter to win an Olympic medal for India. She continued her streak by winning the bronze medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event alongside Sarabjot Singh, marking India's first-ever shooting team medal.

Despite narrowly missing out on a historic grand treble, Bhaker's achievements in Paris have set a new benchmark for Indian athletes. With two medals in a single edition of the Paris Olympics, Bhaker joined an elite group of Indian athletes with multiple individual Olympic medals, including PV Sindhu and Sushil Kumar.