Shooter Manu Bhaker finished at a heartbreaking fourth place in the women's 25m pistol final at Paris 2024 on Saturday, ending hopes of scripting another history by becoming the first Indian to win unprecedented three medals in a single Olympics.
The 22-year-old finished with a score of 28 points after a shoot-off with Veronika Major of Hungary.
"There's always a next time. I am already looking forward to the next one," a disappointed Bhaker said after the match. "Fourth place is not a very good place."
Earlier in Paris 2024, shooter Arjun Babuta had finished fourth in the men's 10m air rifle. The Indian mixed archery team of Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj Bommadevara had also finished fourth on Friday by losing the bronze-medal playoff against the US.
In Rio 2016, shooter Abhinav Bindra, who won gold in Beijing 2018, came fourth in Rio 2016. Shooter Joydeep Karmakar had finished fourth in London 2012.
A Dream Run
Bhaker ended India's 12-year wait for a shooting medal in the Olympics by securing a bronze medal in the 10m air pistol event last Sunday. She followed it up with another bronze medal in the 10-metre air-pistol mixed-team event with Sarabjot Singh on Tuesday.
She had already become the first athlete in the history of independent India to win two medals at a single edition of the Olympics. It has been 124 years since British-Indian Norman Pritchard won silver medals in the 200m sprint and 200m hurdles, also at the Paris edition of the games.
Bhaker's performance in Paris is a remarkable comeback following a disappointing campaign at the Tokyo Games in 2021, where a pistol malfunction derailed her Olympic dreams.
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