Double Olympic medalist Manu Bhaker reveals her focus is on the upcoming Asian Games and World Championships. She praised the NRAI's support for athletes and spoke on the rising popularity and bright future of shooting as a sport in India.
Double Olympic medalist Manu Bhaker spoke on progress within the Indian shooting scene and has eyes set on future competitions, such as the World Championships, Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games in 2030. Manu was speaking on the sidelines of the celebrations of 75 years of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), the national governing body of the sport in the country.
Focus on Upcoming Competitions
Speaking to the media, Manu said that her immediate focus is the Asian Games and the World Championships this year. "We have the Asian Games and World Championships coming up right at the end of this year, and we are definitely looking forward to the major competitions. So the preparation that we are doing, and my coach we have, we sat down some time back, and we have planned how to prepare for the competition. So, I feel that we have made a very good plan, and are moving forward well. We have all the things sorted. And hopefully we will do very good," she said. The Asian Games will be held in Japan from September 19 to October 4, while the World Championships will take place from November 1-15 in Doha, Qatar this year.
Looking Ahead to Commonwealth Games 2030
Speaking on looking forward to the country hosting CWG in 2030 at Ahmedabad, Manu recalled that her "major breakthrough came in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia, a gold medal in 10 m air pistol, but since then, shooting has not found space in CWG schedule in 2022 and 2026." "My first major breakthrough was in the Commonwealth Games. That was 2018 in Australia. And after that, it (shooting) never happened (in CWG). It is also sad. But at the same time, I am also looking forward to 2030, when we will be hosting the Commonwealth Games. So I am looking forward. Because it will be our crowd, it will be our arena. I am sure India will do great," he added.
Growth of Shooting in India
Speaking on the progress of shooting as a sport in India all over the years, Manu spoke on the rising level of competitors and intense competitions at various national events since last 10-15 years and how the sport's governing body looks so well after the athletes. "All that I have today is mostly because of shooting, and shooting happened because of NRAI, of course, so I feel that when a federation is good, it supports its athletes, it takes care of its athletes, and also we as athletes we know that if something happens, they are there to back us up. So it is a very comfortable and it is a very liberating system that we have, and I really appreciate that being an athlete first," he said.
"I can talk about maybe last 10 to 15 years, I have seen growth in the number of participants in shooting as well, especially if you look at national games, for example, some few years ago there were like people in few thousands or few hundreds even at a point, and now we see massive participation of athletes, massive participation in different events, rifle, pistol, shotgun, everywhere," she added.
Bright Future for Indian Shooting
Bhaker highlighted that shooting has a lot of potential for growth and pointed out NRAI's recent initiative to bring in 7,50,000 athletes to the sport. "There is so much potential for growth in shooting, and now that we are also launching an app, I think it will also be very convenient for me, so that for anything we just have to go on the app and mostly everything will be done. And other than that, the latest thing that they announced, I also just got to know, that they will also be taking up 750,000 athletes, some children, and make them try shooting," she said.
"So it is a very good initiative, and I feel that shooting has a very, very bright future, and especially in India, because Indians have a lot of potential in shooting, and we can all see that people are coming up, children are taking part in shooting, children are also taking up shooting as a sport," she signed off. (ANI)
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