Three events at Olympics is too much: Coach on air pistol shooter Manu Bhaker

India pistol shooter Manu Bhaker. Pic/AFP

Teenage shooting sensation Manu Bhaker, 19, has been picked by the NRAI (National Rifle Association of India) for three events (10 meter air pistol, 25m air pistol and 10m air pistol mixed team) as part of India's 15-member squad for the Tokyo Olympics later this year.

This makes Bhaker only the second Indian shooter, after 2012 London Olympics bronze medal-winner Gagan Narang, to represent the nation in three events at an Olympics. And while the young shooter herself is happy with the development, Team India's junior pistol chief coach Jaspal Rana believes she'll be under immense pressure.

‘She's just a teenager'

"It [three events] is too much responsibility and pressure on her young shoulders. She's only a teenager right now," Rana, 44, a four-time Asian Games gold medal-winner in the 25m center fire pistol event, told mid-day yesterday.

Jaspal Rana

While Bhaker, in a recent interview, justified that she has consistently shot in all three events at numerous competitions across the last few years, Rana pointed out that the Olympics is a whole new ball game. "In life, when you grow, you have numerous subjects in school, then you graduate to college and there too you have different challenges and then you pick your choice of stream, be it medicine or engineering or whatever and there too you have different challenges. And finally you become a doctor and that's the biggest challenge. So, similarly, the Olympics is the biggest stage for any athlete. And not just at her age, but at any age, three events at the Olympic Games is not something anyone can manage just like that," added Rana.

Chinki Yadav's omission

Interestingly, Madhya Pradesh's Chinki Yadav was not picked into the Tokyo-bound India squad despite winning a quota place at the Asian Championships in Doha in 2019. She has also become World No. 1 in the women's 25m pistol category with back-to-back gold medals at the World Shooting Championships in Delhi
recently.

Rana is obviously unhappy about Chinki's omission but also felt that the 25m pistol event may not be easy for Bhaker. "Look, the 10m air pistol and 10m air pistol mixed team are similar events where technique and everything else is the same, just the pattern is different. But things change when it comes to the 25m pistol event.

I also have to see how much she can take [at training]. She's young, I can't push her. There is a limit for everything. It's my job to try and stretch her to the maximum but I have to also see that it doesn't break. But if I don't stretch, then the results will not be there because this is going to be a unique Olympics. Due to the COVID situation, we don't know how teams like China and the others are preparing. We are going into the Games without much information about competing teams. There will be a lot of surprises this time," Rana concluded.