Manu Bhaker hits back after being mocked for ‘showing off’ Olympic bronze medals everywhere she goes: ‘Why shouldn’t I?’

Manu, who is now the centre of attention at many events, has attended various events where she has been honoured. It is natural for her to flaunt her medals as it is relevant to the occasion. And yet, some internet trolls are after her, attacking her, creating memes and sharing gifs for her ‘obsession’ with medals and ‘showing off’. Manu, who is once again in a melting pot – first for her affair with Neeraj Chopra and now because of it – has finally broken her silence on the matter and hit back at this reaction from the public.

“I will, yes! Why not?” Bhaker told Times of India. “Everyone feels the need to show the medal, so I carry it with me in case someone wants to see it. They even ask, ‘Please bring your medal’, and if I bring it, several photos are taken at these events.”

Manu opened India’s medal tally at the Paris Olympics. She won two of the six medals India won at the Games, which is a testament to the magnitude of her achievement. Manu came agonisingly close to winning a third medal but missed the hat-trick, finishing fourth in the 25m pistol shooting category. After the result, Manu fought back tears and urged the public not to be angry with her.

Manu’s Song of Redemption

Paris 2024 was the ideal redemption for Manu, who had failed in Tokyo three years ago. Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games, followed by Gagan Narang’s bronze at the 2012 London Olympics, raised hopes that India would soon become a shooting power, but it was not to be.

India’s failure to win a single medal at the 2016 and 2021 Olympics threatened to diminish the importance of shooting in India, especially as badminton and hockey were making great strides. When Manu took the spotlight in Tokyo, India was hopeful, but a dreaded malfunction of her pistol brought her to tears. It took Manu a long time to get over the grief, but she channeled it and used the experience to emerge victorious this time.

“I was very scared in Tokyo; very scared of disappointing people and I let that pressure get to my head. That made me miss out on the chance to even qualify for the final. It took me a long time to overcome that but now I think the past is behind me. I have put it behind me. In Paris, I took a lot of lessons from Tokyo and that’s why I was able to win those two medals,” Manu told the Hindustan Times last month.