Manu Bhaker finishes fifth as India draw blank in women’s 10m air pistol at Asian Games

India’s formidable women’s 10m air pistol combination endured a disappointing outing at the Asian Games Wednesday, with double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker finishing fifth in the individual final after Esha Singh and Suruchi Inder Singh failed to clear qualification.

With Manu, Esha and Suruchi — three shooters with proven international credentials — in the line-up, India had entered the event with strong medal expectations. Instead, the trio finished without a medal in either the individual or team competition, a sharp reversal from Hangzhou 2023, where India had won two individual medals as well as team silver.

Esha, Suruchi miss cut

Esha struggled to find her best form during qualification, shooting 572 to finish 15th. Multiple World Cup gold medallist Suruchi fared worse, managing 568 and finishing outside the eight-shooter final.

Their exits left Manu carrying India’s individual medal hopes. The 24-year-old also endured a sluggish start but recovered strongly enough to finish third in qualification with 579.

South Korea’s Choo Gaeun dominated the qualification stage, setting a Games record with 582, while China’s Jiang Ranxin finished second.

India also came agonisingly close to a medal in the team event. The combined scores of Manu, Esha and Suruchi gave India 1719, the same aggregate as Vietnam.

The bronze was decided on the inner-10 count, with Vietnam registering 46 shots closest to the centre against India’s 44. That pushed India into fourth place.

Manu struggles in final

Manu’s recovery during qualification had raised hopes of a podium finish, but the double Olympic medallist could not reproduce her best shooting in the final.

An 8.9 on her eighth shot proved particularly damaging. Although she registered a 10.8 and 10.6 during the 24-shot final, a succession of scores in the nine-point range prevented her from mounting a sustained challenge to the leaders.

Manu was eventually eliminated in fifth place with a score of 181.1.

Choo carried her impressive qualification form into the final and claimed gold with an Asian record score of 246.3. China’s Shen Yiyao secured silver with 241.3.

For India, the outcome was particularly disappointing given the strength of its three-member line-up. At the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, Palak Gulia had won the individual gold and Esha silver in the same event, while the Indian team had also claimed silver.

Manu looks ahead

Manu acknowledged her disappointment after missing the podium but said her performance represented an improvement on the difficulties she had encountered during training in Japan.

“I genuinely tried my best and really feel that my performance was significantly better than what I have been facing, the challenges I’ve been facing in my training in Japan,” she said.

Manu has also been adjusting to competition without her longtime coach Jaspal Rana, who died in June this year. Rana had guided her through the most successful phase of her career, including her two-medal campaign at the Paris Olympics.

“I feel really sorry that I was not able to make it to the podium and I really hope that I’ll be able to do better,” Manu said.

She will have another opportunity at the Games in the women’s 25m pistol, where she is scheduled to compete alongside Esha and 2018 Asian Games gold medallist Rahi Sarnobat.