Manu Bhaker at Asian Games 2026: Results & Medals

Manu Bhaker competed at her third Asian Games at the Aichi-Nagoya edition in Japan (19 September to 4 October 2026). She and kabaddi star Pawan Sehrawat carried the Indian flag at the opening ceremony in Nagoya, where she said she missed her late coach Jaspal Rana deeply. She competed in four events: the women's 10m air pistol and 25m pistol, both individual and team.

In the 10m air pistol she qualified third with 579-20x, but was eliminated after her 18th shot in the final with 181.1 to finish fifth, while South Korea's Choo Gaeun won gold with an Asian record 246.3. India's women's team finished fourth, just two inner-10s short of a medal.

The 25m pistol, her strongest event and the one in which she still holds the Asian Games qualification record (593 from 2018), proved even tougher. She shot 287 in the precision stage to sit 16th, and finished 11th overall with 579-18x, missing the eight-woman final. Teammate Esha Singh made the final and won silver after a shoot-off, while India finished fifth in the team event (1727-56x) behind China, South Korea and Chinese Taipei. Manu had been part of India's gold medal-winning 25m pistol team at Hangzhou 2023.

Read our complete guide to Asian Games 2026 in Nagoya, Japan, check the Asian Games 2026 India schedule, and see where to watch Asian Games 2026 live in India.

Manu Bhaker (born 18 February 2002 in Goria, Haryana) is an Indian pistol shooter who won two bronze medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, becoming the first Indian woman shooter to win an Olympic medal and the first Indian to win two medals at a single Games since independence. She also owns a 2018 Commonwealth Games gold, a 2022 Asian Games team gold (held in 2023) and a World Championships team gold. She was awarded the Khel Ratna in 2025.

Manu Bhaker's rise from Goria village in Jhajjar district to the Olympic podium is one of Indian sport's most compelling comeback stories. After a painful Tokyo 2020 Games, where a pistol malfunction ended her campaign, she returned stronger and delivered India's first medals of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Manu Bhaker was born on 18 February 2002 in Goria village, Jhajjar district, Haryana. Her father, Ram Kishan Bhaker, is a chief engineer in the Merchant Navy, and her mother, Sumedha, is a former school principal who introduced her to the Bhagavad Gita, which Manu credits for keeping her grounded through tough phases. As a schoolgirl she tried tennis, skating, the Manipuri martial art thang-ta and boxing, winning national medals in several of them.

At around 14 she chose shooting, and her father invested ₹1.5 lakh in her first pistol. Early coaching came from Anil Jakhar, and by 2017 she had won nine golds at the National Games and broken Heena Sidhu's record in the 10m air pistol final. She studied Political Science at Lady Shri Ram College, completed a master's in Public Administration at DAV College, Chandigarh, and is pursuing a postgraduate diploma in Sports Management at IIM Rohtak.

Her first international success was a silver at the 2017 Asian Junior Championships. Then, in 2018, she exploded onto the world stage at just 16.

• 2018 ISSF World Cup, Guadalajara: Won gold in the 10m air pistol on her senior debut, plus mixed team gold with Om Prakash Mitharval, making her the youngest Indian World Cup gold medallist.
• 2018 Commonwealth Games (Gold Coast): Won 10m air pistol gold with a Games record 240.9.
• 2018 Youth Olympic Games (Buenos Aires): Won 10m air pistol gold and mixed team silver.
• 2018 Asian Games: Set a Games record 593 in 25m pistol qualification and finished sixth in the final.

Manu earned her Tokyo quota in 2019 with a fourth-place finish at the Munich World Cup, and arrived at the delayed 2020 Olympics as one of India's biggest medal hopes at just 19. The Games did not go to plan. A pistol malfunction in the 10m air pistol qualification cost her valuable time and she finished 12th (575), missing the final. In the 25m pistol she ended 15th with 582.

The 10m air pistol mixed team event with Saurabh Chaudhary was the biggest heartbreak: the pair topped the first qualification stage but slipped in the second and finished seventh, missing the medal match. Her split with coach Jaspal Rana before the Games had also been widely discussed. Afterwards, she turned to the Bhagavad Gita for strength, especially its message of focusing on karma rather than the outcome, a mindset she credits for her Paris comeback.

In 2019 Manu and Saurabh Chaudhary won the 10m air pistol mixed team gold at all four ISSF World Cups of the season. After Tokyo, she rebuilt her game and won the Hangzhou Asian Games 25m pistol team gold with Esha Singh and Rhythm Sangwan, a 2023 World Championships team gold in Baku, and reunited with coach Jaspal Rana ahead of Paris.

On 28 July 2024 Manu won bronze in the women's 10m air pistol, scoring 221.7 in the final, to become the first Indian woman shooter to win an Olympic medal. Two days later she teamed up with Sarabjot Singh to beat South Korea's pair for bronze in the 10m air pistol mixed team, making her the first Indian to win two medals at one Olympics since independence.

She then reached the 25m pistol final and finished fourth, narrowly missing a historic third medal after a shoot-off for bronze.

Back home, she and Sarabjot Singh met Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini in August 2024, and she was named brand ambassador of Haryana's "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao" campaign. The Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways also signed her as its brand ambassador.

Jaspal Rana coached Manu from 2018, they briefly parted before Tokyo, and reunited in 2023 to prepare for Paris. She has repeatedly credited him for the double bronze. Rana, a Dronacharya Award-winning coach and Padma Shri recipient, passed away in June 2026 at the age of 49. Manu described him as a mentor, guide and friend, and said she missed him deeply as she led India out at the Asian Games 2026 opening ceremony.

A look at her results at the biggest multi-sport Games.

In January 2025 Manu received the Khel Ratna, India's highest sporting honour, making her the youngest Indian shooter to get it. She won a World Cup silver in Lima and 10m air pistol team silver at the 2025 World Championships in Cairo, and took three bronzes at the 2025 Asian Shooting Championship in Shymkent (10m air pistol individual and team, and 25m pistol team). At the 2026 Asian Championships in New Delhi she added a team gold in the 10m air pistol.

The year was also marked by personal loss with the passing of coach Jaspal Rana in June 2026, weeks after the Munich World Cup. She arrived at Asian Games 2026 with heavy emotion and high expectations, but left Aichi-Nagoya without a medal.

Manu Bhaker's Asian Games 2026 campaign is complete: she competed in four events and finished without a medal. Her next competition has not been confirmed yet; this section will be updated once her next event is announced.

Across senior and junior events, Manu Bhaker has won 33 gold, 11 silver and 13 bronze medals at international competitions, according to Wikipedia's medal record. Her highest world ranking is World No. 2, and she competes in both 10m air pistol and 25m pistol.

She has also won 13 ISSF World Cup golds, multiple Asian Championships medals, and personal honours including the Arjuna Award (2020), the Khel Ratna (2025) and the BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year award (2025).

Manu has shot alongside many of India's best pistol shooters. In mixed team events she has partnered Sarabjot Singh (Paris 2024 bronze), Saurabh Chaudhary (four World Cup golds in 2019) and Om Prakash Mitharval. In women's team events her teammates have included Esha Singh, Rhythm Sangwan, Suruchi Singh and Rahi Sarnobat. Her coaching journey has included Anil Jakhar and the late Jaspal Rana.

Media reports put Manu Bhaker's net worth at roughly ₹12 crore after the Paris 2024 Olympics, up sharply from earlier estimates. Her income comes from prize money and government support such as TOPS, along with brand endorsements that have grown since her double Olympic medal.

Note: Athlete net worth figures are not officially disclosed and vary widely across publications; treat these as rough estimates rather than confirmed data.

Manu Bhaker's career carries significance well beyond her medal count.

• The first Indian woman shooter to win an Olympic medal (Paris 2024)
• The first Indian to win two medals at a single Olympics since independence
• The youngest Indian to win a World Cup gold, at age 16 in 2018
• The youngest Indian shooter to receive the Khel Ratna Award (2025)

From a village in Haryana to the Olympic podium, and to leading India's flag at Asian Games 2026, Manu Bhaker's journey continues to inspire. Aichi-Nagoya did not bring a medal, but with LA 2028 ahead, more medals remain well within her reach.