Manu Bhaker held back her tears after missing out on a medal at the 2026 Asian Games. But her emotions became impossible to control when she was asked about her former coach and mentor Jaspal Rana.
She finished fifth in the women’s 10m air pistol final on Wednesday, in what was her first multi-sport event since Rana died of cardiac issues in June.
Asked about Rana after missing out on a medal, Bhaker broke down before speaking about him.
“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,” she said, while speaking to the media.
Rana led her to two bronze medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics. During his career, he bagged eight medals in the Asian Games, four of them gold.
“He was just so adamant about 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.
Bhaker was described as ‘the best of the best.’
“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.”
When asked if she remembered anything he told her about the Asian Games, she recalled a message, which didn’t have anything to do with shooting.
“Life is very unpredictable and live it to the fullest; be kind and everything,” she said.
“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.
“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.”
She got an 8.9 on her eighth shot in the final, and it compromised her medal chances.
When asked about that shot, she said, “As much as anyone wants to deny it, yes, it definitely compromised the chances a lot.”