Chateauroux: After shooting three straight 9s in the fourth series in her 10m air pistol qualification, Manu Bhaker turned her head around for a glance at Jaspal Rana, her personal coach standing behind to her left. A few seconds later, she rubbed her right palm with an ice pack.

Critical moments like these had earlier evaporated Indian shooters’ chance of a shot at a medal in the opening day of competitions at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Ice pack put away; Manu would not freeze. The 22-year-old kept her composure and the top eight position throughout the qualification, finishing third with a score of 580 to earn her spot in the eight-women 10m air pistol final on Sunday. Her 27 Xs were the most among the field of 44 shooters.

Though the final test remains the actual one, it’s a positive first step for Manu in erasing some of those harrowing memories of the Tokyo Games.

There, in her first Olympics as a teen with much riding on her, the pistol shooter couldn’t qualify for the final of either the 10m or 25m individual events. Three years on, inside the ranges of Chateauroux on a day of near-misses for Indian shooting, she crossed the first hurdle. One that had Rana, her personal coach with whom she has rejoined forces after parting ways before Tokyo, in tears. He senses there could be more in store.

Unlike some of her other compatriots on the day, Manu started strong. Her first three 10-shot series of 97, 97 and 98 had consistent 10s a few 9s here and there. Placed in the top three, a wobbly fourth series, which included those edgy few seconds, and a somewhat out-of-the-blue 8 between two 10s brought her down a couple of spots. A fairly solid finish bumped her back up to third and for a crack at a medal.

“Good, confident start for Manu,” said Munkhbayar Dorjsuren, the two-time Olympic medallist and India’s foreign coach for the pistol squad. “She was really good today, and implemented everything well. And in very difficult conditions, I would say.”

Challenging conditions

Temperatures inside the 10m range in Chateauroux, about three hours from Paris where it continued to drizzle in the morning but brightened up as the day progressed, are a bit too hot for their liking, two separate coaches in the Indian contingent said. With lack of air conditioning at these Games and a fair few number of shooters, coaches, officials and other people inside the range, it can feel warm for long periods of time.

A few pistol shooters wiped away sweat with towels in between shots, while 2016 Rio Games 25m pistol champion Anna Korakaki of Greece pulled out of the qualification during her fourth series after being in visible discomfort.

“It’s been very hot for the 10 metres,” Dorjsuren said. “We even brought it up with the officials but there was nothing that could be done. It’s not too easy to handle, and palms can get sweaty.”

It is why Manu carrying the ice pack, and rubbing it across her right palm during that little break before taking aim again, was her smartly tackling the conditions, felt her coach.

The final test

Manu will have to battle challenges of external conditions and the mind when she lines up again on Sunday. Manu has, over the recent years, been known to produce efficient shooting in the qualification rounds before faltering in the final. Look no further than last year’s Asian Games in Hangzhou.

A lot more is at stake here at the Olympics, and the Chinese are again lurking. Tokyo Games bronze medallist Jiang Ranxin had a rather moderate outing, while Li Xue tailed off in the last three series of the qualification.

Near-misses

Manu became India’s first finalist at these Games, though the pair of Arjun Babuta-Ramita Jindal and Sarabjot Singh came close to that honour earlier in the day. Sarabjot missed the men’s 10m air pistol final by an inner 10 finishing 9th in qualification, while the 10m air rifle mixed team were sixth and missed out on the medal round.

Babuta and Ramita shot a combined 628.7, below Norway (629.6) and Germany (629.7)

“We did whatever we could. We missed it by a slight margin, but we have individual qualification to look forward to,” Babuta said.

“I didn’t leave my lane until I knew how I was feeling. I felt I shot well. But looking at the scoreboard, you definitely feel disheartened that you missed it by a small margin. Today maybe wasn’t our best day score-wise, but there was no lack of effort.”