Double Olympics medallist Manu Bhaker failed to bring home a single shooting medal at the Asian Games 2026 edition.
Published: September 28, 2026, 2:35 PM IST
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Indian shooter Manu Bhaker(Photo: PTI)
Asian Games 2026: A lot was expected from double Olympics medallist Manu Bhaker at the Asian Games 2026 but after Monday, the 24-year-old Indian shooter will be returning home empty handed from Aichi-NagoyaManu, who won two bronze medals at the Paris Olympics 2024, failed to win a single medal in 4 events across women’s 10m and 25m air pistol events at the Asian Games 2026.
However, in comparison to Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, Manu Bhaker had won one gold medal in the women’s 25m air pistol team eventManu’s father Ram Kishan Bhaker slammed the Asian Games 2026 organisers over various issues which affected the star Indian shooter’s performances
Manu Bhaker & Rahi Sarnobat failed to Qualify for the 25m Pistol Women Final
Manu Bhaker – 579 | 11th
Rahi Sarnobat – 568 | 30thOnly Top 8 made into the Finals pic.twitter.com/2oU1rmK48g
— The Khel India (@TheKhelIndia) September 28, 2026
Manu’s campaign ended on Monday as India finished in fifth place in the 25m pistol team women’s eventThe trio of Esha Singh, Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat finished fifth with a score of 1727-56xThe gold medal went to China (1743-68x), South Korea won the silver (1735-65x), while Chinese Taipei secured the bronze medal (1734-48x).
Manu’s father Ram Kishan said that one shot by Rahi, which got zero points, shot India’s medal aspirations, bringing them down just when the team was looking strong for a gold medal in the 25m pistol team event.
“You see, one shot of Rahi, which could have turned things in our favour and given us gold, as we were running for gold really well, that one shot turned everything downIf a shot is not counted, it is zeroThat means we slipped 10 points below in the competition,” Ram Kishan told ANI news agency.
The star shooter’s father also raised the issue of smell of a gutter near the shooting range and the range being quite far away from Nagoya City.
“You can smell this gutter is here, and athletes are shooting in such an environmentIt (shooting range) is very far from (Nagoya City)—you can say four to five hours every day spending for what? And top of that, bus timingThe travel time is four to five hours, and bus timings are also differentSo Japan should not organise such big eventsThey need to improve themselves if they are willing to organise that type of eventThey should be better organised,” Ram Kishan Bhaker said.
Manu missed out on the individual final in women’s 25 m pistol, scoring 579-18x in the qualification round to finish 11th, while Rahi finished 30th with a score of 568-16x.
Earlier in the Asian Games, Manu had missed out on the 10m air pistol final, finishing with 181.1 points at the fifth spot during the qualification round for the individual eventEsha Singh finished 16th in qualification with 572 points, while Suruchi Singh placed 26th with 568.
Indian team narrowly missed out on a team medal, ending fourthEarlier this year, Manu was in fine form, securing a bronze medal at the ISSF World Cup 2026 in Hangzhou, where her compatriot and Asian Games 2026 silver medal winner Esha Singh had struck gold in the women’s 25 m pistol event.
In the ISSF World Cup 2026 in Munich, Manu had won the silver medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event, alongside Samrat Rana.
