India’s Manu Bhaker advanced to her third final at the Paris 2024 Olympics, securing a spot in the medal round of the women’s 25m pistol event on Friday, August 2.
Manu finished second in the rankings with a total score of 590 points across the precision and rapid rounds, just two points behind Hungary’s Veronika Major, who equaled the Olympic qualification record with 592 points.
Esha Singh, also competing in the qualification round, ended up in 18th place and did not advance to the final.
Manu Bhaker is now poised as a favorite to claim her third medal of the Paris Games, having already secured two bronze medals in the women’s 10m air pistol and mixed 10m air pistol events.
Manu’s journey to the final was not without its challenges. She had a shaky start in the first series of her precision round, managing only two 10s out of her first five shots.
However, she quickly recovered, scoring five consecutive 10s to finish the series strongly. Building on this momentum, Manu started the second series with three 10s and added five more, ending with 98 points.
Her performance further improved in the third series, where she nearly achieved a perfect run with nine 10s before concluding with a 9.
This placed her in third at the end of the precision round with a total of 294 points, narrowly missing the top position on inner 10s.
In the rapid round, Manu started with a flawless 100 in the first series and maintained her form in the second series with four 10s out of five shots.
She continued her impressive performance by scoring ten more 10s, securing her spot in the next round and finishing second overall.
Manu Bhaker is set to compete in the final on August 3, where she will aim to add another medal to her impressive tally at the Paris 2024 Olympics.