22-year-old shooter Manu Bhaker won bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol final, becoming the first Indian to win a medal in Paris Olympics 2024. Manu Bhaker also created history by becoming the first female Indian shooter to win an Olympic medal. Bhaker maintained an excellent standard from start-to-finish, showing incredible skill and composure and spending the majority of the event in the top 3. Bhaker opens India’s medal tally at Paris, as the nation aims to eclipse their medal count of seven from Paris 2024. 

Bhaker was 0.1 ahead in second heading into the final shot, but slipped to third after it. Bhaker finished on 221.7 points, hitting a 10.3 on her final shot, as silver medalist Yeji Kim hit a 10.5 This caused Bhaker to lose the second spot at the final gasp, being eliminated but still clinching bronze.

Bhaker’s Supreme Qualification

Bhaker had qualified to the final in third position, having salvaged an underwhelming day for Indian shooting on Saturday, July 27. Bhaker shot 580 to finish third in the qualifications in which Hungarian ace Veronika Major claimed the top spot with a score of 582. The other Indian representative, Rhythm Sangwan, had ended 15th with a score of 573.

The Haryana shooter made a bright start with a total of 97 points to take the fourth spot at the end of Series 1.

Bhaker got a 97 in the second series too and remained in fourth as Sangwan slipped to 26th after a poor outing including an 8. But Bhaker was back in the top two after an excellent 98 in her third series.

Bhaker got an 8 in the fifth series, her first bad shot in an otherwise excellent qualification, but she still remained in the mix and eventually made the final.

Ramita makes 10m air rifle final

India’s Ramita Jindal gave a strong display of marksmanship to qualify for the women’s 10m air rifle final in fifth place even as Elavenil Valarivan succumbed to pressure to miss out despite being among the contenders, finishing 10th at the Olympic Games in Chateauroux, France on Sunday. Ramita, the Hangzhou Asian Games bronze medallist in the event, aggregated 631.5 to become the second shooter from the country after pistol exponent Manu Bhaker to secure a berth in the final, while Elavenil scored 630.7.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh had a face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his ongoing visit to Delhi. Mr Singh and PM Modi had discussed the situation in the state that was hit by massive ethnic violence last year, party sources told NDTV amid much speculation over the meeting.

Mr Singh is in Delhi for a special conclave of Chief Ministers from BJP-ruled states. But the short closed door session held in its sidelines , was specially scheduled to discuss the Centre and state’s plans and roadmap for a possible solution to the ongoing crisis. Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh were also present for the meeting, but no officials from the Centre or the state attended it, sources said, underscoring its exclusivity.

The meeting comes amid massive Opposition pressure on the BJP over the Prime Minister’s alleged silence on Manipur. Slogans of Manipur had rent Lok Sabha as the Opposition interrupted PM Modi’s speech on the Motion of Thanks following President Droupadi Murmu’s joint address for over two hours.

The BJP, though, has been especially focussed on Manipur after the two Lok Sabha seats in the northeastern state went to the Congress in the recent general election.

The meeting also comes on a day that Manipur governor Anusiya Uikey was removed and new Assam governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya was given additional charge of Manipur.

Over the last year, the clashes between the valley-dominant Meitei community and nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis — a term given by the British in colonial times — who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, has killed over 220 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the nearly two dozen tribes that share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram, want a separate administrative carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

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