Manu feels Croatia tour ‘perfect’ before Oly

New Delhi, June 8: One of India’s strongest Olympic medal hopes, ace shooter Manu Bhaker feels preparations “cannot get better” than the ongoing training-cum-competition tour of Croatia as she works on her consistency ahead of the Tokyo Games.

Thirteen Olympic-bound pistol and rifle shooters are currently training in Zagreb after having participated as guest invitees in the European Championship recently in Osijek. They will also compete in the ISSF World Cup, also scheduled in Osijek from June 22 to July 3. The Croatia tour was arranged after the National Rifle Association of India realised that it was not possible to hold camps in India amid a deadly second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The tour is very helpful. We are well looked after, our health and fitness needs are taken care of and, most importantly, we are getting to train at a very good shooting range and with some good competition as well,” Bhaker said from Zagreb.

“So, I believe it cannot get better, leading up to the Olympic Games.”

When Bhaker says she wants to live up to her own expectations, the remark can be interpreted as a burning desire to win the gold medal, and it has often panned out that way in a stellar career seeking its zenith in a few weeks’ time.

In an ominous sign for her challengers ahead of the Tokyo Games, the champion Indian shooter says she is wants to avoid being weighed down by expectations. “I just want to meet my own expectations. I am not thinking about anything else but focusing on giving my best for India in the Games.”

The 19-year-old pistol ace will enter Tokyo as one of India’s biggest medal hopes having won almost everything one can after a sensational start to her career.

According to the champion shooter, many of her teammates stand a chance of finishing on the podium in Tokyo and given the Indian shooters’ form in recent years, she is not far-fetched in her thought.

“I don’t think I am the biggest medal hope... that is unfair. In our shooting team itself, I don’t see anyone who is not the biggest medal hope. Then there are world class athletes in other sports as well for example badminton, weightlifting, wrestling, archery, boxing and the like,” she said.

The tour is very helpful. We are well looked after, our health and fitness needs are taken care of and, most importantly, we are getting to train at a very good shooting range and with some good competition as well.

— MANU BHAKER Tokyo Olympics-bound shooter