Manu Bhaker vows to come back stronger after Olympics flop

Tokyo, Aug 01: Seeking to steer away from “negativity”, Indian pistol ace Manu Bhaker says she will continue to shoot in three events, including the 25m, vowing to make a strong comeback after enduring a hat-trick of heartbreaks in her maiden Olympics.
Speaking after arriving from Tokyo, the 19-year-old said there was negativity around her shooting and preparations in the run-up to the Olympics due to the conflict with former coach Jaspal Rana, who had insisted that she withdraws from the 25m pistol event. “I will continue to shoot in 25m event,” Manu said, as she readied to leave the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Saturday. While the controversy and the negativity around her dispute with Rana did have an impact on her performance, wanting to win medals at all cost made it worse, the Youth Olympics and Commonwealth Games gold medallist said.
Besides being “leg pulled”, Manu said she was regularly told to “withdraw” from 25m as she was not “up to the mark” in that event. She had earned her Tokyo quota during the ISSF World Cup in Munich.
“Yes, there was negativity as my mother and father were also forced to get involved in this whole issue. Questions like why my mother is with me in Bhopal (for training and trials) and why is my father accompanying would be asked by him. So, there was negativity.”
Among other things, there were technical problems which “were not addressed” by the former coach.
She also made it clear that she did not send any message to Rana during the ISSF World Cup in Delhi in March this year, saying that it was sent by her mother who was “getting worried” about her daughter.
The message Rana received was, “Ab to mil gayee na tassalli” (now you must be content) after Manu settled for a bronze when she was expected to win a gold medal.