India’s ace shooter Manu Bhaker and her partner Sarabjot Singh secured another bronze medal for the country at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The pair triumphed over the Korean duo of Wonho Lee and Jin Ye Oh in the mixed team 10m air pistol event on Tuesday, adding to India’s medal tally. In doing so, Manu achieved a historic milestone in Indian Olympic history by becoming the only athlete from the country to win two medals in a single event since independence in 1947. Manu had earlier won a bronze medal in the women’s individual 10m air pistol final.
Bhaker previously won her first Olympic medal by clinching a bronze in the women’s individual 10m air pistol final. She doubled her personal medal count and extended India’s tally to two medals. This also marked India’s first medal in a team event at the Paris Olympic Games, achieved by defeating the Koreans 16-10 in the bronze medal match.
The only Indian athlete to have won two medals in a single Olympic campaign is Norman Pritchard, who won two silver medals in athletics during the 1900 Games when India was under British rule. Since Pritchard, no Indian athlete has managed to win two medals in a single campaign.
A few Indian athletes have won two medals across different Olympic Games in their careers. These include Sushil Kumar (wrestling) and PV Sindhu (badminton).
Sushil secured a bronze medal at the Beijing 2008 Games before earning a silver medal at London 2012. He became the first individual athlete from India to win multiple Olympic medals post-independence, across two different campaigns.
Shuttler Sindhu won a silver medal in the Rio Olympics, narrowly losing to Spain’s Carolina Marin in the final. This was the first time India won a silver medal in Olympic badminton. Sindhu later won bronze at Tokyo 2020, making her the only Indian woman athlete to win multiple Olympic medals, though across two different editions.