Manu Bhaker seals India's first Paris Olympics berth in Women's 25m Pistol

Manu Bhaker, on Saturday, secured the Indian shooting's 11th quota place for the 2024 Paris Olympics at the 15th Asian Shooting Championship in Changwon, South Korea.

It was, meanwhile, the first quota place for India in the Women’s 25m Pistol event. Manu is the fifth Indian women's shooter to qualify for the Paris Olympics after Mehuli Ghosh, Sift Kaur Samra, Rajeshwari Kumari and Tilottama Sen.

On Friday, Tilottama confirmed Indian shooting's tenth quota place at the Asian Championship. Hers was India's second quota place in the women’s 10m air rifle event.

Manu, a 21-year-old shooter from Haryana, topped the qualification round with a score of 591-27X. She finished fifth in the final, scoring 24.

Liu Rui of China clinched the Women's 25m Pistol event by scoring 37, while Haniyeh Rostamiyan of Iran was placed second with 36.

China's Zhao Nan and Feng Sixuan finished third and fourth with 32 and 27 points respectively.

How Manu won the quota place

China, who had already won one quota place in this event previously, secured its second spot on Friday, with Liu Rui securing the spot for topping the podium. Each country can win a maximum of two quota places in a single event.

As the Iranian shooter Rostamiyan had already secured her Paris berth, and Chinese Zhao and Feng were ineligible for a spot, the second quota place has gone to Manu Bhaker despite her finishing fifth.

Indian shooters who qualified for 2024 Paris Olympics

Men's 10m air rifle - Rudrankksh Patil, Arjun Babuta

Men's 10m air pistol - Sarabjot Singh

Men's 50m rifle 3 positions - Swapnil Kusale, Akhil Sheoran

Men's trap - Bhowneesh Mendiratta

Women's 10m air rifle - Mehuli Ghosh, Tilottama Sen

Women's 50m rifle 3 positions - Sift Kaur Samra

Women's trap - Rajeshwari Kumari

Women's 25m pistol - Manu Bhaker