MANU BHAKER I’m dying to hang out with my friends
Who is your favourite actor?
I do not have any particular favourite actor per se. But I love Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar and Ayushmann Khurrana because I somehow really connect with them.
Which is your favourite movie?
Again, it would be unfair if I name just one. I have scores of movies which I love to rewatch. But then again, I’d say I like to mostly watch comedies and biopics.
Who among your teammates do you love spending time with?
Abhishek Verma, mostly.
What are the things you are looking forward to once normalcy is restored after we nd a vaccine for COVID19?
I’m dying to hang out with my friends and go to the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in Delhi to start training and compete.
What is your favourite food?
Anything and everything that has been prepared at home. But when I am eating out, it’ll mostly be a sub.
Tell us about your favourite memory?
My favourite memory would denitely be the 201■ Commonwealth Games where I struck gold in the 10m air pistol. If I’m asked to pick a second favourite, I will go for the Youth Olympics in the same year.
A decision you still regret? There are hardly any.
Is there anything you would love to erase from your memories?
The 201■ Asian Games, I’d say, because after a wonderful qualication round, I couldn’t do well in the nal.
Is there any superpower that you would like to possess?
(Laughs) Maybe getting to read people’s minds, and ight powers as well.
A subject you hated in school? Mathematics.
If not a shooter, what would you have been? Most probably, I’d have gone for an MBBS degree.
At 2■, Virdhawal Khade is talking retirement. For a life lived chasing time, he is helplessly watching time slip away. India’s fastest swimmer, Khade, hasn’t trained in a pool in months and is grappling with the prospect that his Tokyo Olympics dreams might die.
Recently, Khade tweeted that he was considering retirement if swimming pools continued to remain shut.
The scenario hasn’t changed amid the coronavirus sweep. “I don’t want to stay in this uncertain period for too long because I will just start getting frustrated, and I need to make a lot of decisions,” he tells Sportstar.
“It could be regarding my work or it could be regarding anything else. I don’t want to get stuck. I always preferred having a clear picture. Normally, even when we