A MAJOR malfunction in her pistol on Sunday (25) cost India’s ace shooter Manu Bhaker dearly as she lost almost 20 minutes during her qualifications, leading to a disappointing exit from the women’s 10-metre air pistol event at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics. She finished 12th in the qualification round, four places short of final of the eight qualifiers.
Bhaker, 19, was left to shoot 44 shots in 55 minutes when the technical snag – the pistol’s cocking lever broke down – happened. When she returned to the firing point after addressing the issue, the Olympic debutante lost vital moments and had to complete the remaining number of shots in only 36 minutes, an improbable task in any level of competition. Things got more delayed for the Indian as more minutes got lost in checking the repaired gun in the sighter.
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“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 from Tokyo.
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Bhaker, Pandit along with a member of the jury had to go to a designated area to get the device checked and repaired since no repairing is allowed near the range because of safety reasons.
“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,” Pandit, a former India shooter, said.
Bhaker left 'heartbroken' by incident
The incident left the ace shooter “heartbroken”. It is not the first time that Bhaker met technical impediments during a high-profile tournament. During the ISSF (International Shooting Sport Federation) World Cup in Munich in 2019 which offered quota places for the Tokyo Games, she had a similar experience but came back strongly to clinch 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,” Pandit said after the incident in Tokyo.
Indian shooter Heena Sidhu, who has represented India in two Olympics besides being a former world champion and world record holder, explained in detail the problems that Bhaker faced and slammed those who held the view that Manu buckled under pressure.
“For all d people who are quick to judge that Manu succumbed to pressure. I just got to know what happened to her equipment in detail n how much time she lost. She didn't succumb to pressure she rose to it,” Heena, who is married to Pandit, said in a tweet.
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