Manu begins from where she left off in Paris
Manu Bhaker returns to shooting after a six-month break, excelling in trials and eyeing upcoming world cups, with a focus on health and performance.
New Delhi: Manu Bhaker loves to be in the thick of action. After a long break of six months, the double Olympic medallist is back in the shooting range and reigniting the fire in her for a fresh Olympic cycle.
A look at her performances in the two selection trials suggest that Manu has started from where she left off at the Paris range during the Olympics. She shot impressively in qualification of both 10m air pistol and 25m pistol events, making the cut for finals on all four occasions.
In the rankings, Manu finished in second place in the 10m air pistol -- the discipline that fetched her individual and mixed team bronze medals in Paris -- and topped the rankings in the 25m sports pistol -- in which she narrowly missed a third Olympic medal.
The two world cups in April (Buenos Aires and Peru) will start her international season, with the world championships scheduled later in the year. Manu doesn’t want to thinking too far ahead though.
“It was a long break. I missed the National Championships and National Games. I had the selection trials in my mind so I thought I will start here. I trained accordingly and everything has been fine as it was in July (in Olympics),” Manu told HT.
The last six months have whizzed past for Manu as she attended felicitation functions. She was also honoured with the Khel Ratna award.
“Earlier, I was shooting every single day I was at the range -- from dawn to dusk. It was very hectic. After the Olympics, it was a different kind of experience and I enjoyed every moment. It was fun actually to be able to do something different than what I have been doing all these years.”
She was, however, waiting to get back into competitive mode. The familiar environs of Karni Singh Range provide her some comfort as she charts her course afresh.
“I have grown up on this range. I have been shooting here since I was 16 or something, and it feels like a second home to me. Even if it’s a long break it doesn’t feel like it’s different. I would like to start being healthy and injury free, while working on my physical and mental part of shooting and continue at this pace. I really enjoy shooting.”
With coach Jaspal Rana by her side, she is looking to draw up a plan for the season. “We trained for 15-16 days. I am satisfied with how I perform in the trials. We will make a plan for the rest of the season.”
Jaspal, Deepali back as national coaches
It was learnt the National Rifle Association of India has inducted Jaspal as coach for the pistol team along with Samresh Jung. In rifle, Deepali Deshpande and Manoj Kumar are being appointed as national coaches. Jaspal has played a stellar role in Manu’s Olympic medals while Deepali has coached Swapnil Kusale to Paris Olympics bronze.
Saurabh is back
After three years, Saurabh Chaudhary is eyeing a comeback to the national side having topped the rankings after the final selection trials on Friday.
Tokyo Olympian and Asian Games champion Saurabh has consistently shot well since scoring a high of 591 in the National Championships in December. In the second trials on Friday, he shot 584 in qualification and finished third in the final -- finishing in the top three.
He leads the charts with a score of 584.85 (avg of best four scores). Ravinder Singh and Paris Olympian Varun Tomar are placed second and third. Paris Olympics medallist in mixed team, Sarabjot is eighth in the rankings but he will have more opportunities in the season ahead as selectors have decided to send separate teams for world cups and give exposure to more shooters. The top three will make it to the team for the first two world cups.
In 10m women’s air pistol, National Champion Suruchi Phogat, who is having a stellar domestic season, is at the top of rankings (avg of 586.63) followed by Manu (581.50) and Sainyam.
Suruchi hails from Manu’s hometown of Jhajjar and trains under coach Suresh Singh who also trained Manu initially. The 18-year-old has swept all three national titles this season-- senior, junior and youth categories and also won the National Games title with consistent scores.
The busy domestic season has thrown up new talents like Suruchi but the real test for them will be the international level.
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