How a glitch in Manu Bhaker's pistol denied her entry into shooting finals

Manu Bhaker missed out on a medal opportunity when she finished 12th in the 10m Air Pistol Women Qualification at the Asaka Shooting Range, Tokyo on Sunday. Bhaker was one of the favourites for a medal finish from the Indian shooting contingent but had a massive setback during the event. Her pistol malfunctioned midway putting a toll on her performance.

Bhaker started well in the first series scoring 98. However, after 16 shots, Bhaker realized that the liver in the pistol was broken, and she failed to load the pallets due to a faulty barrel. The parts of her pistol were replaced and she was back into the action. However, she lost a valuable 6 minutes in the process out of the allotted 75.

Manu Bhaker made a comeback but it was not enough

She made a comeback into the qualifying and shot 95, 94, and 95 in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th series to be in contention for a qualifying finish. However, the lost time played a crucial part in the final series as she was forced to shoot 7 shots in the last 6 minutes.

Her last shot fetched only an 8 which knocked Bhaker out of the qualification position to finish 12th. Had she managed to get a 10, she would have managed to qualify because of her higher score in the final series (95). Bhaker finished 12th with 575 points. Bhaker's Indian compatriot Yashaswini Deswal Singh finished 13th in the same event.

"Normally, it doesn't take more than a few seconds and we couldn't have claimed more time, so I had to tell Manu to start shooting as we had already lost a lot of time," pistol coach Ronak Pandit told PTI.

Manu, along with her coach and a member of the jury, had to go to a designated area to get her pistol checked and repaired, as no repairing is allowed near the range because of safety concerns.

"55 minutes were remaining for 44 shots when the malfunction took place and when she came back after getting it sorted (the cocking lever was replaced), which we got in a record time, she was left to shoot 44 shots in 36 minutes," Ronak, a former India shooter, said. Needless to say, the unfortunate incident has left the young shooter "heartbroken".

She had suffered due to technical issues in the past too, most notably during the ISSF World Cup in Munich in 2019, which offered quota places for the Tokyo Games.

But, she came back strongly to grab the quota in another event of the same tournament. "But, even with all the problems that she has faced today, an inner 10 in the last series would have taken her in the finals," the coach added.

Ace shooter Heena Sidhu defended Bhaker and said ''For all the people who are quick to judge that Manu succumbed to pressure. I just got to know what happened to her equipment in detail and how much time she lost. She didn't succumb to pressure she rose to it. Giving a score of 575 in less than 34 mins is an achievement of her nerves.

Senior journalist Boria Majumdar also added," The electronic trigger of Manu Bhaker's pistol had a circuit malfunction in the middle of the second series. It meant she had to go to the test tent with the coach and a member of the jury where it was replaced with a spare tested and then she returned. She lost huge time.''

However, all is not gloomy for Bhaker as she still has the 25m pistol event and the mixed team event left to gun for her maiden Olympic medal.