On National Sports Day, Indian Olympic medallist pistol shooter Manu Bhaker talked about her interactions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and shared what she makes of the inspiration that he gives to athletes.
Manu, 22, created history as she turned out to be the first Indian to clinch two medals in a single Olympic edition post independence when she emerged victorious at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She also became the country's first woman medallist in an individual shooting event in the Games.
She was just 16 when she first met PM Modi after her gold medal win at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and taken aback by his genuine interest in her sporting career.
He took me aside during the interaction and told me, 'You are very young. You will get even bigger successes and reach out to me whenever you need anything.' This was a great source of motivation for me, recalled Manu.
The Prime Minister first called her to offer words of encouragement and then discussed her future plans, after she had a disastrous Tokyo Olympics campaign, where she missed a medal narrowly as her pistol malfunctioned.
"PM Modi told me to be confident and focus on my goal. He keeps track of every detail about each player," Manu said.
The pistol shooter feels that PM Modi's approach goes beyond 'just celebrating victories'; the way he gives importance to every athlete irrespective of whether they win or not, by reaching out to them individually and taking time to discuss their issues, is making them feel important and motivated.
After Manu bagged her first medal at the Paris Olympics, clinching the bronze medal in women's 10 m air pistol, PM Modi called upon the pistol shooter and congratulated her for the historic medal at the Games in Paris.
Later on, she won the bronze in the Mixed 10m Air Pistol with Sarabjot Singh and finished fourth in the women's 25m Pistol event.
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