Indian shooter Manu Bhaker on Wednesday (September 23) broke down as she remembered her coach, Jaspal Rana, who died of cardiac issues in June.

Bhaker got emotional during a media interaction in Nagoya, Japan, after finishing fifth in the women’s 10m air pistol competition on Wednesday.

It was the culmination of an emotionally turbulent past few months in which she mourned the demise of Rana, who was a mere 49 at the time of his shocking death.

What Bhaker said about Rana

Asked about pistol legend after missing the podium on Wednesday, Bhaker broke down before speaking about the lessons he had left her with.

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The mere mention of his name brought back memories of a coach who was a major influence on her career since her formative days.

“If I remember all those years…it’s not that you remember once or twice, it stays with you. When a person has been a big part of your life, it stays,” said the visibly overwhelmed Bhaker as she remembered the man, who guided her to two bronze medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Rana was himself a bonafide Asian Games legend having won eight medals, four of them gold, across three different editions. His three gold medals in the 2006 Doha Asiad are part of a glorious legacy as he took position at the range despite running extremely high fever.

‘He was so adamant on process’

As coach, Rana’s most enduring lesson, Bhaker said, was to focus on the process rather than the outcome. Bhaker had tried to follow this advice in the Asian Games final, where an 8.9 significantly hurt her medal chances.

“He was just so adamant on process always – that you have to be able to, any given day, any given point in your life, whenever you shoot, you have to be able to give your best performance and follow your process,” she said.

Rana’s absence gave the result a deeper emotional context.

Bhaker described him as an Asian champion and “the best of the best”, recalling how she had been looking forward to competing in Japan under his tutelage.

“Of course, he was like the Asian champion, he was like the best of the best. When I came to the Asian Games (in 2018 Jakarta), I think he was like the undisputed champion and yes I was really looking forward to Japan actually and the circumstances were,” she said, before taking a moment to stay composed.

Asked whether she remembered anything he had told her about the Asian Games, Bhaker said everything he said was profound to her.

Rana’s message

She then recalled a message that had nothing much to do with shooting.

“Life is very unpredictable and live it to the fullest, be kind and everything,” she said.

The 24-year-old Bhaker entered the final after a “difficult” preparation period in Japan and felt she performed considerably better than she had in training.

“I genuinely tried my best and really feel that my performance was significantly better than what I have been facing, the challenges I’ve been facing in my training in Japan,” she said.

“I feel really sorry that I was not able to make it to the podium and I really hope that I’ll be able to do better.”

The 8.9 on her eighth shot in the final proved to be the crucial setback. Asked if the shot had compromised her chances, Bhaker was unequivocal.

“As much as anyone wants to deny it, yes, it definitely compromised the chances a lot,” she said.

Bhaker said her preparations had been unsettled, revealing that Tuesday’s pre-training session had been particularly difficult and that she had struggled.

“I had some issues like yesterday the PT (pre-training) was not good at all — lots of struggle, lots of things and I was not able to see the sighters properly,” she said.

She therefore made executing her process the priority in both qualification and the final.

“My process was the number one thing and I was able to do that in qualification and also in the finals. Most of the shots I was able to do exactly how I had planned, like how my process is. However, a few shots were not so good,” she said.

Positive approach

Bhaker also drew confidence from the fact that her performance in the Asian Games final was better than those she had produced during simulated finals in Bhopal before the Games.

“If you compare the performance from there to here, the performance here is slightly better,” she said, recalling discussions with her coach.

“I’m positive that in future I can do even better and can keep improving.”

Bhaker also credited her wider support team, including current coach, Serbian expert Jelena Arunovic.

“You just see me, but so many people work so hard so that we are able to perform,” she said.

“Coach Jelena…she has been so hardworking with everything and patient,” she added.

The fifth-place finish leaves Bhaker without an individual medal in the 10m air pistol at these Games, but she insisted the performance gave her reason to remain positive. “I’m very grateful and I really hope I can do better,” she said.

(With agency inputs)