At the age of 19, Manu Bhaker has already won 7 gold medals at Shooting World Cups. The shooter is currently ranked World no. 2 in the Women’s 10m Air Pistol rankings.

At the Tokyo Olympics, Bhaker will represent India in the 10m and 25m pistol events.

Bhaker, one of India’s brightest medal prospects at Tokyo, hails from Goria village in Haryana. Her father Ram Kishan Bhaker serves in the Merchant Navy as a chief engineer.

Shooting wasn’t her first foray into sports though. Bhaker has played tennis, boxing and thang-ta (a martial art) at the national level. She made her foray into competitive shooting in 2016.

In the 2017 National Games, Bhaker notched up an impressive tally of 9 gold medals. She even defeated two-time World Cup Gold medallist Heena Sidhu in the tournament.

Bhaker broke onto the international circuit in 2018 when she registered a win at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Mexico. Bhaker, who was 16-years-old then, has not looked back since.

The pistol ace won a gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games 2018, the first Indian to achieve the feat.

Amid the COVID-induced lockdown in 2020, Bhaker found novel ways to keep her competitive streak alive. “Online shooting competitions are brilliant and encouraging. Not much different from normal competition,” Bhaker had told Opoyi. She also practices yoga and meditation to keep herself mentally fit.

Also read| ‘No lost time’: World No. 2 shooter Manu Bhaker on Olympic preparation in lockdown

The 2020 Arjuna Awardee winner is currently being coached by Ronak Pandit. Pandit has full faith in Bhaker’s abilities and says the huge expectations don’t bother either the shooter or himself.

“The are pros and cons of expectations but Manu, even at the age of 16 and 17, was shooting in World Cups and winning medals. She is very level-headed and is used to such pressure and expectations,” Pandit said.

The Olympics are scheduled to be held from July 23 to August 8, with the shooting events spread across the first 10 days of the extravaganza, which will be held without spectators owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.