Manu Bhaker became the first Indian athlete to win more than one medal at the Olympics.
A controversy erupted soon after the twin medal winner from the Paris Olympics 2024, Manu Bhaker’s name was missing from the shortlisted candidates for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. Breaking her silence on the matter, the 22-year-old clarified that there has been a “lapse” from her side in filing the form for applying for the award.
The Indian shooter also stated that while awards and recognitions kept her motivated, they are not her goal.
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“With regards to ongoing issue for my nomination for the most prestigious khel ratna award – I would like to state that as an athlete my role is to play and perform for my country. Awards and recognition keeps me motivated but are not my goal,” the Olympic medallist wrote.
Bhaker became the first Indian athlete to win more than one medal at the Olympics when she secured a bronze each in the individual and mixed 10m air pistol events. Although she narrowly missed bagging a third by finishing fourth in the 25m pistol event, she created history for the country.
So when her name was not in the list of candidates recommended by the sports ministry to the government, everyone, including Bhaker and her family, was confused and shocked.
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Notably, the central government had awarded all seven Indian athletes who won medals at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics with a Khel Ratna award. The same was not applied this time. Apart from hockey player Harmanpreet Singh and para-athlete Praveen Kumar, most medal winners from the Paris Olympics this year were not shortlisted for the award.
— Manu Bhaker🇮🇳 (@realmanubhaker) December 24, 2024
Manu Bhaker clarified that there was a “lapse” from her side in filing the form for applying for the award.”Irrespective of the award I shall remain motivated to win more medals for my country,” she stated.
Finally, the Olympic medallist requested everyone to refrain from speculating any further on the issue.
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A candidate has to put their name to be considered for the award, ideally. However, since Bhaker had created history with her monumental achievements for the country, she should have been an obvious and automatic pick. Despite applying, the Indian shooter was not shortlisted, leaving the Bhaker family and several people across the country devastated.
Outside of the Olympics, Bhaker won 17 gold medals, six silver medals, and five bronze medals across several shooting events, including the Shooting World Championship, the Shooting World Cup, the 2023 Asian Games, and the Junior World Championships, among many more.
