Asian Shooting: Manu Bhaker returns to podium with silver, Esha Singh takes bronze

NEW DELHI: Shooter Manu Bhaker described her performance in the women’s individual 25m pistol at the Asian Rifle and Pistol Championship here as “satisfactory” after she settled for silver on Monday.

It marked the double Olympic medallist’s return to the podium following a disappointing seventh-place finish in her pet 10m air pistol event on opening day.

Monday’s silver was also her first individual medal in the 25m event at the Asian Championships.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Manu had found herself in the race for gold till the very last shot, but ultimately lost to Vietnam’s Thuy Trang Nguyen after a double shoot-off.

Both finished the regular 45-shot final on 35 points each and the first shoot-off ended 2-2. In the second, Nguyen hit three of the five targets while Manu hit two.Esha Singh, who had clinched gold in 10m air pistol, won bronze and the third Indian in the fray, Rhythm Sangwan came fourth. The Indian trio also landed the team gold. Chinese Taipei and Vietnam won silver and bronze respectively.A thoughtful Manu said later she needed to work on her game in the finals while maintaining that she was performing at a middle level and was looking to peak towards the end of the year, when major events like the Asian Games and World Championships are scheduled.

“It was an interesting final — quite up and down from the start,” she said, “Performance-wise, it was satisfactory, but more importantly, we learned what we need to work on, what we can improve, and what we need to maintain. That’s the focus now.”“I’ve taken notes and I’ll discuss with my coach Jaspal sir (Rana) how we can improve in areas where we’re weak. Hopefully, I’ll be able to address that going forward,” she added.“Right now I’m keeping things a little moderate,” she explained, “I wouldn’t say this is my peak, but I also wouldn’t say that I’m not working hard. I’d say I’m somewhere in between. I’m trying to maintain the pace and hopefully build it up gradually towards the end of the year.”Manu said she faced good competition on Monday, including from the other Indians in the team. “The competition has been really good, especially among the girls and particularly the Indians.

The team has been performing very well and that creates a positive kind of competitiveness within the team. It’s nice to have that — we keep each other on our toes.”She said she carried no baggage from her seventh place finish in the 10m event. “I’ve always shot both events. My first competition in both events was back in 2017 or 2018. I’ve always had that balance, so I don’t really feel affected if one match goes well or badly. It doesn’t bother me much because I know there”s another match coming,” added the shooter.Manu said she would take a hard look at certain areas in her preparation for future events. “The grip pressure changed during the mid-series in the final. That’s something we need to improve.”