/popdiaries/media/media_files/2024/12/24/zlr3PRASy4muCNVBljnd.jpg)
Follow Us
India’s top shooter Manu Bhaker, who made history at the 2024 Paris Olympics by securing 2 bronze medals, is deeply saddened over being overlooked for the Khel Ratna award.
Manu said that she had submitted her name on the online portal for the award but was not included in the final shortlist of 30 names. As the first Indian athlete to win two medals in the same Olympic Games, she feels very sad by her exclusion from the country's highest sporting honour.
In fact, her father has expressed a lot of regret about choosing shooting as her sport by suggesting that she should have pursued cricket instead.
In an interview with the Times of India, Manu Bhaker’s father sharply criticized the sports ministry and the committee that was responsible for finalizing all the Khel Ratna nominees. Anyhow, the ministry claims that Manu didn’t submit her application, she has contradicted this claim.
"I regret putting her in the sport of shooting. I should have instead made her a cricketer. Then, all the awards and accolades would have come her way. She won two Olympic medals in a single edition, no one has ever done that. What else do you expect my child to do for the country? The govt must recognise her efforts. I spoke to Manu, and she was disheartened by all this. She told me 'I shouldn't have gone to the Olympics and won medals for the country. In fact, I shouldn't have become a sportsperson'," Manu’s father elaborated to the paper.