Malleswari to Bhaker: Eight Indian women and their nine Olympic medals

Manu Bhaker ends India's 13-year Olympic shooting medal drought with a bronze, joining other Indian women to make history.

Manu Bhaker, showcasing remarkable resilience, ended India’s 12-year drought for an Olympic shooting medal by becoming the first Indian markswoman to secure a podium finish with a bronze in the 10m air pistol event at the Paris Games on Sunday.

India’s last Olympic shooting medals were won at the 2012 London Games, where rapid-fire pistol shooter Vijay Kumar and 10m air rifle marksman Gagan Narang each clinched bronze.

After two Olympics without a shooting medal, the 22-year-old Manu Bhaker fought hard to earn the bronze with a score of 221.7.

Altogether, Bhaker is the eighth Indian woman to win an Olympic medal. Here is a walk down memory lane, starting with Karnam Malleswari, the first Indian woman to win a Olympic medal, and leading up to Lovelina Borgohain, the one who preceded Bhaker.

Karnam Malleswari added a glorious chapter to Indian sports history on September 19, 2000 at the Sydney International Convention Centre by becoming the first Indian woman to gain an Olympic medal. The bronze medal in the 69-kg category of the weightlifting championship was for a career-best 240 kg. At that time, she joined the only two other individual sportspersons, wrestler K. D. Jadhav who won a wrestling bronze in Helsinki in 1952, and Leander Paes who also won a tennis bronze in 1996 at Atlanta.

On August 4, 2012, Saina became only the second Indian woman after Malleswari, to win an Olympic medal for India. Saina Nehwal was at the mercy of the Chinese Wang Xin, but Lady Luck smiled on her. In an unexpected twist to the story, Saina won the badminton bronze in the women’s singles as Xin retired with a painful knee while leading 21-18, 1-0.

After a hesitant start, with the short-built Chinese athlete making a clutch of errors, giving Saina a 5-2 lead, there was a dramatic change in the flow of the match as the Chinese won 12 points to one. But the fighter in Saina came out as she slowly got back into the game — first with a drop and then winning a brilliant long rally — to make it 10-15. But the errors in Saina’s game continued even as the Chinese hurried her with a sharp game. From 10-17, Saina did fight to make it 18-20 before the Chinese, going for a smash on match point, slipped and fell at the baseline. There was quick medical attention, and Wang Xin returned after three minutes with her left knee taped, and promptly smashed a return to win the first game.