Asian Games 2026: Manu Bhaker ends campaign without medal across four events

Aichi-Nagoya [Japan], September 28 (ANI): In one of the biggest shockers at the ongoing Asian Games, India's double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker has ended her campaign without a medal to her name in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. 
Manu competed in women's 25 m pistol and 10 m air pistol individual and team events. However, the Paris Olympics star failed to make an impact. Having achieved a gold medal in the women's 25 m pistol team event, Manu was one of India's biggest medal hopefuls after Olympic success.
Manu's campaign ended on Monday as India finished fifth in the 25 m pistol team women's final. The trio of Esha Singh, Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat finished fifth with a score of 1727-56x. The gold medal went to China (1743-68x), South Korea won the silver (1735-65x), while Chinese Taipei secured the bronze medal (1734-48x). 
Esha Singh, representing India in the women's 25 m pistol individual final, finished in eighth place with a score of 580-22x. The top eight shooters in the field got a chance to progress to the finals. 
Manu missed out on the individual final, scoring 579-18x in the qualification round to finish 11th, while Rahi finished 30th with a score of 568-16x. 
Before this, Manu had missed out on the 10 m air pistol final, finishing with 181.1 points at the fifth spot during the qualification round for the individual event. Esha Singh finished 16th in qualification with 572 points, while Suruchi Singh placed 26th with 568.
Indian team narrowly missed out on a team medal, ending fourth. 
However, shooting has been one of India's strongest disciplines this year, with 11 medals, including a gold, six silver medals and four bronze medals. 
Heading into the Asian Games, Manu was in fine form, securing a bronze medal at the ISSF World Cup 2026 in Hangzhou, where her compatriot Esha Singh struck gold in the women's 25 m pistol event. In the ISSF World Cup 2026 in Munich, she won the silver medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event, alongside Samrat Rana. In the Asian Shooting Championships at home, Manu captured an individual silver medal in women's 25m pistol. (ANI)