Rare are the occasions when Indians rejoice for a sport other than cricket. One hardly sees the nation getting united for a positive reason where no limitations of the region or religion remain abstained from the happiness. And one such occasion happened today when the 22 year old Manu Bhaker won the first medal for Indian in Paris Olympics 2024. The Indian flag was raised because the proud daughter of Indian clinched on to a bronze medal in the 10 meter air pistol. The sportswoman from Haryana was certainly in the list of athletes which could add to nation's medal tally. And living up to the expectations, she proved her well wishers right.

Now the entire nation knows her, but not everyone knows that Bhaker was always a teenage prodigy. The shooter made it to the headlines at a mere age of 15, when she stunned everyone by winning a total of 9 gold medals in Junior Asian Championship in 2017. She defeated the World Cup gold medalist in the same tournament. That's when the shooting sport world took her notice for the first time. She then upped her performances in the year to follow as she went on to win Commonwealth Games Gold medal. In the final of the same CWG 2018, she set a new Commonwealth record of 240.9 points at a mere age of 16.

And thereafter she never looked back. She won a whopping 9 gold medals, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cups, after winning 3 golds and 1 silver in Junior ISSF World Cups. She also has 1 gold, 1 silver in Senior ISSF World Championships and 4 golds and 1 bronze in Junior ones. Furthermore, she bagged 2 Asian Airgun golds, 2 Asian Championship golds and 1 Asian Games Gold medal. She fared well in the World University Games winning 2 golds. Even after having so many laurels to her name, she wasn't satisfied and badly wanted an Olympic medal.

She already had a Youth Olympic gold and silver medal each for respective individual and mixed category of 10 meter air pistol. The only medal missing in her list was an Olympic one. And she got a chance for it in Tokyo Olympics 2020, which ended for her with a heartbreak. Knowing what she could do, India had high hopes from her. And she was proving the nation right, until her pistol suffered a malfunction, which eventually meant that she was not qualified for the finals of the tournament. She was devastated, and so were the people who had hopes from her. But little did everyone know about the plans destiny had for her in the future.

Her consistent efforts firstly fetched her gold in Asian Games which happened in 2023 in Hangzhou, China. And then she had her eyes on 2024 Olympics. And she began the tournament with great confidence. She secured 580 points to enter the final. And even in the final, she was ice cool with her aim. She seemed pretty relaxed as one saw her smiling on the camera after her name was called. She was always in the top three, and eventually ended up being the bronze medallist for the nation. With it, she became the only 5th Indian shooter to claim an Olympic medal, the first one to win it after 12 years, and the only Indian woman shooter to have an Olympic medal to her name.

Not many people might know her story, but after the glory she has brought to the nation, everyone will know it. Her story is certainly a testament to the fact that your comeback should be stronger than your setback. The Tokyo Olympics 2020 was heart-breaking for her, but the 2024 Paris Olympics was the one to remember for her as well as for her billion countrymen. None of the Indians will ever forget that the success of this Olympics was started by this 22 year old proud daughter of India, who is the 5th youngest Olympic medal winner for India. On her amazing feat, we congratulate her and wish her good luck for the future endeavours and would hope to see many Indians getting inspired from her.