Shooters Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh secured second medal for India at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games by clinching bronze in the 10m air pistol mixed team event today. The Indian duo edged out Wonho Lee and Jin Ye Oh of South Korea 16-10.

This was also second shooting medal for India following the bronze for Manu Bhakar in the womens 10m air pistol event at the same venue. Manu, thus, became first shooter from India to win two Olympic medals and also the first Indian athlete post independence to bag two medals in a single edition of the quadrennial Games.

In the pre-independence Olympics, Norman Pritchard, a British-Indian, won two medals at the 1900 Summer Games. He secured a silver medal in both the mens 200m sprint and the 200m hurdles.

Earlier on July 28, Manu made her way into the history books as the first Indian woman in 12 years to win an Olympic medal in shooting. Gagan Narang had won a bronze in the 10m air rifle while his fellow marksman Vijay Kumar bagged silver in the 25m rapid fire pistol at London in 2012. Manu is also the first woman shooter from India to reach an Olympic final in an individual event in the last 20 years and the fifth Indian to win a medal in shooting.

For 23-year-old Sarabjot Singh, this was his first Olympic medal. He hails from Dheen village of Ambala, Haryana. He is the son of Jatinder Singh, a farmer and Hardeep Kaur, a homemaker. Sarabjot studied at DAV College, Chandigarh and trains under coach Abhishek Rana.

Sarabjot saw a few kids wielding air guns at a makeshift range during a summer camp. He was 13 then and harboured hopes of becoming a footballer. But the sight of kids aiming at paper targets with pistols did not leave his mind. In 2014, he went to his father and said, “Dad, I want to pursue shooting.”

His father told him that the sport is pretty expensive. But eventually, Sarabjot insisted for months to play shooting and won the gold medal at Junior World Championship, Suhl in 2019. He went on to the bag the gold medal in team event and silver medal in mixed team event at the 2022 Asian Games.
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PHOTO: Indian shooters Manu Bhakar (Left) and Sarabjot Singh pose with their 10m air pistol mixed team bronze medals at the Paris Olympic Games on 30 July 2024.