National Shooting Championship 2022: Tokyo Olympian Manu Bhaker brings gold in 10m pistol junior event

Tokyo Olympian Manu Bhaker on Monday won the gold medal in the 10m junior pistol event of the ongoing National Shooting Championship 2022 in Bhopal.

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Manu was representing Haryana in the 65th edition of the championship. She beat Esha Singh of Telangana 17-13 in the final after topping the qualification with a score of 583. She also did well in the semi-finals, scoring 252.4 at the MP Shooting Academy Shooting Range. Earlier Manu had won four gold in 25m pistol. She also won gold in the senior and junior categories for Haryana. Manu won a total of seven 9 gold and one silver in this championship.

Bhaker also competed in the women's 10m pistol event, but could only score 148 in the semi-finals, thereby being knocked out in the medal round. Earlier, Bhaker had won gold medals in the senior and junior women's individual 25m pistol events besides winning the women's and junior women's team gold in the 25m pistol event.

There is an atmosphere of celebration in Manu's village on her success in National Shooting Championship 2022. Manu is currently practicing at Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in Tughlakabad. Manu's dream is to win gold medals in the Asian and World Championships. While the family cherishes the dream of her being honored with the Padma Shri Award.

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On the other hand, Olympic silver medalist Vijay Kumar of Himachal Pradesh won the national title in men's 25m center fire pistol with a score of 583. There were 582 marks between Haryana's Anish Bhanwala and Indian Army's Gurpreet Singh. They were the other two players on the podium.

Meanwhile, Karnataka's Divya TS shot 254.2 to top the 10m pistol women's semi-finals. She finished ahead of Sanskriti Bana, who shot 251.6, and Rhythm Sangwan, who shot 250. In the final, Divya defeated Sanskriti 16-14 to win the gold medal. Sanskriti, representing Uttar Pradesh, made it to the final of the 10m pistol youth women's event with a score of 249.2. But Haryana's Rhythm got the better of her 16-12 to win the national title.