Shooter Manu Bhaker's father reveals sacrifices family made to produce double gold-medalist for India

Manu Bhaker took the world by storm when she won two gold medals at the recently-concluded ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The ace shooter, all of 16, claimed her victories in the women's 10m air pistol and mixed team pistol event.

Manu, blessed with irresistible talent, has her parents to thank for the immense success she's tasting at the moment. Speaking to Zee Media, her father, Ram Kishan Bhaker, revealed the struggles the family had to go through over the years.

The proud father says that Manu tried her hand at several sports before settling for shooting. She stunned her school teachers with her accuracy in the very first tournament she participated in.

Things, however, got difficult from there on as Manu was required to travel extensively to take part in events. Since she was still fairy young, her father decided to quit his job as a marine engineer and accompany her wherever she went.

"Shooting is an expensive sport. Each pistol costs Rs Two Lakh. Till today, we've purchased three pistols for Manu. In a year, we end up spending about Rs 10 Lakh just on Manu's sporting requirements," says Ram Kishan. "We often have to borrow money from friends and relatives."

Manu's mother, who is a school teacher, also contributes a bit in the running of the house. Ram Kishan says the family hasn't received any prize money fro m the government as of yet.

Not many know that the license of the pistol with which Manu won her two gold medals came after an arduous wait of two and a half months.

Speaking to the medai soon after winning her second gold medal last week, Manu said she could hardly believe what she had managed to achieve.

"This is unbelievable, I never thought that I would end up winning two gold medals in a senior World Cup," she said.

This was a day after she signalled her arrival on the world stage with a bang -- an individual gold medal in the women's 10m air pistol. For someone who took to shooting just a little over two years ago, winning two gold medals in a global event of this magnitude would easily qualify as some achievement.

"I was a little nervous in the individual event. I shot 8.4 in the 17th shot yesterday and an 8.1 in the 19th, so I was not very comfortable but then managed to recover well," she said. She sealed the issue in her favour by shooting 10.6 in the final shot, even as the others stumbled.

Shooting happened to her by chance after a brush with contact sports (boxing, martial arts) and Manu has more than stamped her class in the tournaments she competed in. The unassuming pistol shooter from Jhajjar, Haryana, is now focussed on the ISSF Junior World Cup in Sydney followed by the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games next month.

"I am obviously delighted with the way my maiden outing in a senior world cup panned out, and I am now looking forward to the upcoming events. As always, I will look to give my best shot and win medals for my country," she said.

Thanks to her memorable outing in Mexico, the 11th standard student has become one of the youngest ever to win a senior World Cup gold medals for India. Last December, she won the 10m air pistol event, outclassing the highly-experienced Heena Sidhu at the 61st National Shooting Championship in Thiruvananthapuram where she broke Heena's long-standing national record.

She won a staggering 15 medals, including nine gold, during the tournament. Manu's tryst with shooting began when her father took her to the range and asked her to try her hand at the sport. She fired a few shots that found the centre of the target and there was no looking back.