How Manu aced the mind games to win a historic bronze

Manu Bhaker sipped water from her bottle only twice during the entire course of the 10m air pistol final. First, right before she stood still to take aim at the start. Second, when she was assured of a medal.
All through in between on Sunday, Manu stood still in her body language, solid in her shooting, secure in the mind. Indian shooters wilting when the stakes rise or pressure heightens in tournaments of prestige doesn’t surprise as much any longer. Manu’s sustained composure in a big final proved a welcome change. The kind that opened her, and India’s medal count at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with a bronze in the 10m air pistol event with a score of 221.7 in a high-quality final.
The only little window in which Manu showed a speck of emotion was when, despite her shooting 10.3 in the 22nd shot, Kim Yeji hit a 10.5 to leap over her by 0.1 and ensure the Indian was forced to sign off with a bronze. Manu smirked for a split second, and headed back to her chair with the medal secured. Koreans Oh Ye Jin (243.2) and Yeji (241.3) bagged the gold and silver, the former coming up with an Olympic record score.
Right from the start of the qualification on Saturday until that bronze-sealing moment on Sunday, Manu’s composure of the mind matched her consistency of scores. Unlike some shooters who enjoyed a quiet celebration with themselves and coaches after coming through the gruelling qualification rounds, Manu was inexpressively steady.
“Last night, the moment today’s thoughts came into my mind, I was like, dekha jayega (we’ll see)’,” Manu said.
Sunday was a repeat of Saturday, in the mindset and outcome.
Often in recent times, Manu has lost her way in the gulf that exists between a solid qualification round converting into silverware in the final. At last year’s Asian Games in Hangzhou, she had topped qualification with a world record qualifying score and withered away in the final. Questions about her mindset of dealing with the pressure of big finals were raised.
Manu served a fine answer at these Games. If the first shot, a 10.6, was a statement, the next 21 were of sustained solidity. Not once did Manu drop out of the top three throughout the first two five-shot series followed by elimination rounds, hitting consistent 10s accompanied by few 9s even as silver medallist Yeji littered an odd wayward 8.
Manu wouldn’t be fazed. Neither when she shot three straight 9s through the 13th to 15th shots, nor when the noise from Indians in the stands grew louder with every passing shot of hers.
The zen-like mental zone had been entered after reading the Gita the previous night, and repeating a famous quote from it.
“Arjun, karm pe dhyan do, phal ki chinta mat karo (focus on the work, don’t worry about the reward). This was running in my mind from last night. I told myself no matter what happens, I’ll handle it,” Manu said.
“I didn’t wake up thinking whether I would win a medal or not. But I was adamant about one thing, that at no point should I think: ab nahi ho raha hai yaar (it’s no longer happening now).”
The Tokyo Games failure has taught the then teen and now 22-year-old plenty. About not being too result-driven, about sticking to her personality and not changing it just to tune up to a competition. The youngster from Haryana has also become a lot more spiritual since, she believes.
“I do believe a lot now that there is some energy which is guiding and protecting us. And there is an aura around us which feels that energy,” she said.
Within the confines of the range, it is usually the sight of Jaspal Rana for her. Reunited with her personal coach, Manu says she finds courage by just looking at him. An odd glance was reserved on Sunday too. It didn’t matter that Rana, seated with the spectators in the stands, could easily have been lost amid the crowd.
“I had figured out where he was sitting, and I was making sure I was only looking at him and nobody else,” she said. “I definitely owe a lot to him too for making this happen.”
She owes a bit to her experience of Tokyo too, no matter how harrowing it was at that point and in the days to follow. For a youngster who’s shooting career took off in the fast lane and had been predicted to soar, suffering an expected crash — as she described it on Sunday — took Manu herself by surprise. “Kahi na kahi, meri hi laparwahi hogi,” she felt.
From her first Olympics to the second, Manu worked on overcoming that through a process that involved taking a slight step back and marching forward again, with learnings from Tokyo for company all along.
“I believe that if you can’t win something, you should take lessons from it, which in turn improves you going forward,” she said. “Now, I understand the value of this, and the kind of hard work and effort it takes to get here.”
For now, that place was on the 10m air pistol podium as the bronze medal winner and India’s first medallist of the 2024 Paris Games. There could be more to follow.