New Delhi,aug 16
Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal felicitated double Olympic medalist Manu Baker at his residence in the national capital on Friday and presented her with a cheque of Rs 10 lakhs. Earlier at the Paris Olympics, Manu Bhaker scripted history when she became the first Indian to win two medals at the same Olympics. Bhaker and her partner Sarabjot Singh secured bronze in the 10 M Air Pistol Mixed team event.
The duo of Manu and Sarabjot defeated South Korea’s Lee Wonho and Oh Ye Jin 16-10 in the bronze medal play-off match. Both Manu and Sarabjot shot consistently with regular 10s in the series against the South Koreans to claim India’s second medal.Bhaker opened India’s medal tally in the Olympics after she secured third place in the women’s individual 10m Air pistol event, becoming the first-ever woman shooter to win an Olympic medal for India. Following that, Sarabjot Singh and Bhaker won the bronze medal in the 10m air pistol (mixed team) event, which was India’s first-ever shooting team medal.In her final event, she narrowly missed out on the historic grand treble and finished fourth in the women’s 25m pistol shooting event. She missed out on the opportunity to become the first Indian to win three medals at the Olympics.Bhaker is the first athlete from the Indian contingent after independence to get two medals in a single edition of the Paris Olympics.Earlier in the 1900 Olympics, Norman Pritchard won two medals while representing India, both silver in the 200m and 200m hurdles.Bhaker also joined an elite group of athletes to have multiple individual medals at the Olympics: PV Sindhu (badminton silver at Rio 2016 and bronze medal at Tokyo 2020) and Sushil Kumar (wrestling bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics).Neeraj Chopra fell short of retaining his gold medal in the men’s javelin throw at the Paris Olympics on Thursday, securing silver with a best throw of 89.45 meters.Led by Harmanpreet Singh, the Indian men’s hockey team won back-to-back bronze medals for the first time in 52 years at the Olympics following their 2-1 triumph over Spain. Aman Sehrawat secured the bronze medal with a 13-5 victory over Puerto Rico’s Darian Cruz on Friday, marking India’s first wrestling medal at the Paris 2024 Games.India ended its campaign at the Paris Olympics with six medals including five bronze and a silver.
