‘I shouldn’t have gone to the Olympics and won medals for the country’: Manu Bhaker devastated by Khel Ratna axe

Manu Bhaker, the twin medal winner from the Paris Olympics 2024, is heartbroken to see her name missing from the shortlisted candidates for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. Bhaker, 22, became the first Indian athlete of the Independence era to win more than one medal at the Olympics when she bagged bronze each in the individual and mixed 10m air pistol events. Bhaker narrowly missed out on a hat-trick, finishing fourth in the 25m pistol event, but nevertheless created history for India.

And yet, somehow, Bhaker was axed from the list of shortlisted candidates recommended by the sports ministry to the government. After the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, all seven Indian athletes who returned with a medal were awarded the Khel Ratna, but the same rule did not apply to Bhaker or most medal winners from Paris – only Harmanpreet Singh and para-athlete Praveen Kumar from the Olympics and Paralympics contingent – were among the 12 candidates shortlisted.

“Manu said she had applied on the portal. If that was the case, then the committee must have considered her name. Whatever the situation, the federation has approached the ministry and requested the officials to include her name,” a source close said.

Ideally, a candidate has to put in his/her name to be considered for the award, but given the gravity of Bhaker’s achievement in Paris, she should have been an automatic pick. However, Manu has not been shortlisted despite applying for the award, leaving her and her father devastated.

Manu and her father upset

“The government must recognise her efforts. I spoke to Manu, and she was disheartened by all this. She told me, ‘I shouldn’t have gone to the Olympics and won medals for the country. In fact, I shouldn’t have become a sportsperson’,” Manu’s father, Ram Kishan Bhaker, told The Times of India.

The backlash isn’t only confined to Bhaker. Many Indian sports fans have also lamented the decision, forcing the sports ministry to reconsider it. A report carried out by the SRK Nation states that Bhaker may not be given the Khel Ratna Award after all, given all that has transpired over the last 24 hours.

Even outside of the Olympics, Bhaker’s achievements are arguably second to none. Between the Tokyo and Paris Games, Manu has won 17 gold medals, six silver medals, and five bronze medals across several shooting events, including the Shooting World Championship, the Shooting World Cup, the 2023 Asian Games, and the Junior World Championships, among many more.