Manu Bhaker wins a gold in shooting at the Commonwealth Games while she is still in school

Manu Bhaker has won 9 golds at the National championships.Photo courtesy Twitter.

16-year old Manu Bhaker won gold at the Commonwealth Games 2018 in the 10m air pistol event. The games are being held at Gold Coast, Australia. Before your eyes pop out at her age and then her achievements, let me tell you that she is in 11th standard. Remember what you were doing in 11th standard?

Well, preparing I suppose you were busy preparing yourself to finally become an adult by somehow passing 12th boards. Well, I definitely was. But 16-year-old Manu, who belongs to Haryana, was already an inspiration to countless women in the state with a skewed sex ratio.

Manu held a pistol of 4.5 mm calibre

Bhaker became the youngest Indian athlete to win a gold medal at the Games as she registered a whopping 240.9 points.Photo courtesy Twitter.

Bhaker became the youngest Indian athlete to win a gold medal at the Games as she registered a whopping 240.9 points. In air pistol, women's category has the rule of 40 shots within 50minutes. The weight of the pistol is approximately is 1.5 kg. The pistol must be operated by only one hand from a standing position, and may only be loaded with one pellet at a time.

Manu hates to lose

Competitive right from childhood, her father describes Manu Bhaker as someone who hates to lose.Photo courtesy Twitter.

Competitive right from childhood, her father describes Manu Bhaker as someone who hates to lose. Manu's father Ram Kishan is an engineer in the Merchant Navy and her mother Sumedha is the principal at Manu's school. Bhaker belongs to the village of Goria in Haryana. Bhaker sharpened her aim at the shooting range in the Universal Senior Secondary School in Jhajjar district, 125 km from Delhi. Manu was a boxer tooShe was a boxer until she had a swollen lip from one of her matches. It was at this point that Manu's mother put down her foot. Manu in the meanwhile had been an active participant in tennis and the Manipuri martial art, Thang-ta

After winning a national medal at the Thang-ta championships, Bhaker switched her focus to shooting. Manu claimed her first medal at 2017 Asian Junior Championships. It was silver.

The Gold rush

Manu with her coach, Jaspal Rana. Photo courtesy Twitter.

Manu's gold rush began at the National Championships in Kerala, where she won nine golds and broke the national record, held by Heena Sidhu. Heena by the way won the silver at the CWG in the same category as Manu. More recently, Bhaker also won double gold at the ISSF Junior World Cup. Bhaker dominated the final match in the mixed event, finishing with 478.9 points, 1.8-point away from the current World Record at this level.

She was aggressive from the start.

Manu Bhaker with Heena Sindhu, who won the silver medal at the 10m Air pistol event at CWG 2018. Photo courtesy Twitter.

In the qualifying round, Manu shot 388 after hitting 10 perfect shots to set a Games record. "I am very happy... it is my first Commonwealth Games and I won with a qualification record also. The gap between me and the second competitor, that was a huge margin. So it was a pleasure winning this medal for India and I am very, very happy," Manu said after the event.

Now, that's quite an inspiration, isn't it?