Manu Bhaker quotes Bhagavad Gita after historic Bronze at Paris Olympics

India’s Manu Bhaker quoted Bhagavad Gita after her historic podium finish in the women’s 10m air pistol event in Paris on Sunday, 28 July.

The 22-year-old from Haryana shot 221.7 points in the final of the event to finish on the podium at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in the French capital. In the starting rounds of the final, Bhaker was struggling to maintain her position in the top 3. However, the athlete made an incredible recovery to finish third, behind the Korean shooters.

Speaking to the broadcaster after her podium finish, Bhaker said that she was inspired by the Gita and kept the words close to her during the final event. Bhaker said that India as a nation deserved to win a lot more medals and was grateful to play a small part in the same.

“Well, I feel great. And it was a long-due medal for India. I was just merely mode to do it. And India deserves more, even more medals, as many as possible. So we are looking forward to as many events as possible this time. And the entire team has worked really hard and personally, for me, the feeling is really surreal. I feel that I did a good job. I put in a lot of effort and even until the last one, I was just fighting with all energy that I had. And, um, this was a bronze. But I’m really grateful that I could win a bronze for India, maybe better next time.

“Honestly, I read a lot of Gita. So what was going through my mind is just do what you are meant to do. Just do what you are supposed to do and just leave. Whatever the destiny, you can’t control the outcome of it. So in Gita Krishna says to Arjun that, you know, you focus on your karma and not on the outcome of the karma. So only that was running in my head. I was like ‘just do your thing, just do your thing and just let it all be’,” Manu Bhaker said after her medal win.

This was a massive win for Bhaker who had suffered a heartbreak in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after her equipment failed. During the 10m air pistol qualification, Bhaker’s pistol snagged, which significantly impacted her performance. She fell short of the mark in the mixed team 10m pistol and 25m pistol events as well. This setback was particularly disheartening given her high expectations and the immense pressure she faced on the biggest stage in sports.

On the day, Bhaker managed to keep up with the top two Koreans till the very end, and finished in the podium.