Manu Bhaker Shooting: Age, Medals, ISSF World Cup, Olympics

Manu Bhaker Shooter, Born on 18 February 2002, is an Indian airgun shooter and also the youngest Indian to win a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup. The Haryana shooter represented India at the 2018 ISSF World Cup and won two gold medals. Bhaker also won the gold medal in women’s 10 m air pistol event at 2018 Commonwealth Games just at the age of 16. It was her maiden Commonwealth Games appearance.

Manu Bhaker was born in Goria village of the Jhajjar district of Haryana. Her father, Ram Kishan Bhaker, works as a chief engineer in the Merchant Navy. Manu had a liking for sports from a very small age and won many medals at the national level in various sports like Huyen langlon, a Manipuri martial art, as well as boxing, tennis and skating until the age of 14.

Manu did her schooling from Universal Public School, Goria. She initially practised in a small shooting range at her school and was highly inspired by her grandfather Rajkaran Saheb who was also a great shooter. Her grandfather was a soldier in the Indian military, Regiment 3 Jat and witnessed the 1962 Indo-China war, 1965 Indo-Pak war and 1971 Indo-Pak war.

Date of birth: 18 February 2002

From: Goria village, Jhajjar district, Haryana, India

Medals & Achievements

ISSF World Cup

• Gold medal in 2018 Guadalaraja in 10 m air pistol event
• Gold medal in 2018 Guadalaraja in 10 m air pistol mixed team event
• Gold medal in 2019 New Delhi in 10 m air pistol mixed team event
• Gold medal in 2019 Beijing in 10 m air pistol mixed team event
• Gold medal in 2019 Munich in 10 m air pistol mixed team event
• Gold medal in 2019 Rio de Janeiro in 10 m air pistol mixed team event
• Gold medal in 2019 Putian China in 10 m air pistol event

Asian Shooting Championships

• Gold medal in 2019 Doha in 10 m air pistol event
• Gold medal in 2019 Doha in 10 m air pistol mixed event

Commonwealth Games

• Gold medal in 2018 Gold Coast in 10 m air pistol

Youth Olympic Games

• Gold medal in 2018 Buenos Aires in 10 m air pistol
• Silver medal in 2018 Buenos Aires in 10 m air pistol mixed team

Olympics

• Manu Bhaker won a Gold and Silver medal in 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires
• In May 2019, Manu qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 10m pistol event via a fourth-place finish at the Munich ISSF World Cup

Lesser Known Facts

• Manu Bhaker became only the second Indian shooter after Heena Sidhu to win a gold medal Women’s 10m Air Pistol at the ISS World Cup
• Manu Bhakar has created a small shooting range at her home so that she can practice continuously for the Tokyo Olympics during the lockdown.