Manu Bhaker strikes twice

Rohit Mahajan in Paris

Shortly after 10 in the morning today, the stoicism that’s central to shooting was shed by Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh. The torrent of emotion washed away the shooters’ mandatory impassiveness at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre, some 280 km from Paris.
After hours of restraint — waking up at 5 am, calming the nerves with yoga, meditation and breathing exercises — the two pistol specialists, both 22, sunk into each other’s arms, and into a huddle with Munkhbayar Dorjsuren, the Mongolian-German coach of the national team.
Manu and Sarabjot of Haryana had beaten Oh Ye Jin and Lee Wonho of South Korea 16-10 in the bronze medal contest in the mixed team 10m air pistol event to win a medal — Manu’s and India’s second of the Paris Olympic, Sarabjot’s first. Manu started the day with a brilliant 10.2 out of a maximum possible 10.9, but Sarabjot had a very poor 8.6, and the South Koreans led 2-0 after the first round of the shootoff. The Indians, however, shot brilliantly thereafter — the next four rounds were won with Manu shooting 10.7, 10.4, 10.7, 10.5, 10.0 and 10.6 and Sarabjot playing a strong hand with four 10s and two 9s. South Korea crept up with three wins in five rounds, but Manu and Sarabjot both had brilliant rounds 9 and 10 — 10.0 and 10.5 for Manu, 10.5 and 10.3 for Sarabjot — and the medal was within their grasp. Manu closed with a 9.4, but Sarabjot’s 10.2 was enough to win India the 13th round.

The feeling is surreal as I hadn’t hoped of wining two medals at single Olympics… looking forward to next match. — Manu Bhaker

Then emotions took over — wild cries of joy rang down from the Indian supporters in the stands; Manu moved towards those cheering her on and asked for the Tricolour; Sarabjot stood rooted to the ground, transfixed, even as his coach in the stands tried to rouse him up to accept a flag. Sarabjot, a farmer’s son from a village near Ambala, finally moved and took the Indian flag and proudly waved it.
Sarabjot was thinking about how far he’d come in the past nine years — from the kid of 13 from Dheen village who saw airguns at a temporary range at a summer camp… Dreams of becoming a footballer being buried by the desire to become a shooter… Joining a local shooting facility in which 30 kids shared a gun. Joining an academy at Ambala Cantt, where he was coached by Bishkek Rana, and the daily bus journeys to and from Ambala.
The boy, who helped his father in the farm, was strong in the body — he proved he was strong in the mind as well. The daily bus rides were boring, he says, but he persevered. He got a gun of his own only in 2017, after winning a bronze at the Nationals. His father, Jatinder Singh, raised the money, Rs 1.7 lakh, from a commission agent, and tilled land at other farmers’ fields for Rs 1,000 a day.
Sarabjot spoke about those bus rides today. “Those bus rides… I was bored after two years of those bus rides,” he said. “Then I met a friend, Chetan, and the trips to and from Ambala became better. After that we got a car.” He used his own funds for it, the money he was rewarded for his Asian Games medals last year.
Those who see him the first time assume Sarabjot is from Punjab, but he speaks with a distinct Haryanvi twang, as does Manu. He and Manu get along pretty well, but they didn’t need to talk much about today’s shootoff — both know what must be done. After making the bronze playoff, they didn’t talk much. “There was no conversation. We just work on our techniques. Manu said she had to give her best, and that I too had to give my best.”
Sarabjot, almost anonymous in a shooting team full of stars, has become only the sixth Indian shooter to win an Olympic medal. Manu is the first Indian to win two medals at a single Olympics — if you exclude Norman Pritchard, an India-born Briton who won two medals at the 1900 Paris Olympics.