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The Paris 2024 Games is turning out to be a good omen for Indian sports and the two names that definitely deserve mention are Manu Bhaker and Swapnil Kusale.
The 22-year-old Bhaker is the first Indian woman shooter who got on the Olympic podium after winning a medal in the 10m air pistol event. She will go on to compete in 10m pistol mixed team and 25m pistol events. This is Bhaker’s second Olympics but her joy felt brand-new as she brought India the first medal at the Paris 2024 Games.
Bhaker, who was born in Goria village of Jhajjar district in Haryana, was an expert in other sports such as Huyen langlon, a Manipuri martial art, as well as boxing, tennis and skating, winning medals at the national games in these events. This was until the age of 14. She first tasted success at an international level when she won the silver medal at the 2017 Asian Junior Championships.
In the 2017 National games held at Kerala, Bhaker won nine gold medals and won again multiple World Cup medalist Heena Sidhu. She’s also won a gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games at the age of 16. Bhaker is also the youngest Indian to win a gold at ISSF World Cup in 2018. Bhaker won her second gold medal at the World Cup in the 10-meter Air Pistol mixed team event. She was paired with fellow countryman Om Prakash Mitharval. In May 2019 she qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 10m pistol event via a fourth-place finish at the Munich ISSF World Cup.
Bhaker also won the team gold for India in the women's 25m pistol team event at the 2022 Asian Games, along with Esha Singh and Rhythm Sangwan.
On the other hand, Kusale, now an Olympic bronze medal winner in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions event, is the first Indian shooter to win a medal at the Olympics in the category, making it the nation's third medal in shooting at the sporting event. The other being Manu Bhaker's bronze in the 10m Air Pistol event and another bronze in the mixed team event.
Kusale, who used to be a ticket collector in Pune, has trained under Deepali Deshpande, a former Indian shooter, ahead of the Olympics. Chateauroux was Kusale’s first ever Olympics and won his chance by winning the fourth position in the World Championships held in Cairo. In the same event, Kusale was part of the Indian men’s team that won bronze.
Kusale’s tryst with shooting began at the age of 14 when he was chosen to be part of a Maharashtra government sports scheme, and chose shooting as his sport.