Manu Bhaker enters her first Olympic final; salvages India's underwhelming day in shooting
Chateauroux (France), Jul 27: A supremely confident Manu Bhaker was at the top of her game as she entered the 10m women's air pistol final, salvaging the day for Indian shooting after an underwhelming start by her compatriots in the Olympic Games here on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Bhaker shot 580 to finish third in the qualifications in which Hungarian ace Veronika Major claimed the top spot with a score of 582. The other Indian representative, Rhythm Sangwan, ended 15th with a score of 573. The final will be held on Sunday.
Reduced to tears following her forgettable outing in her Games debut in Tokyo three years ago, Bhaker is seeking to add an Olympic medal to her very excellent resume.
A prominent shooter, who has gained international recognition for his exploits in the sport form a very young age, Bhaker looked determined to keep the Tokyo memories behind and produced a fine qualification performance.
The Haryana shooter made a bright start with a total of 97 points to take the fourth spot at the end of Series 1.
Bhaker got a 97 in the second series too and remained in fourth as Sangwan slipped to 26th after a poor outing including an 8. But Bhaker was back in the top two after an excellent 98 in her third series.
Bhaker got an 8 in the fifth series, her first bad shot in an otherwise excellent qualification, but she still remained in the mix and eventually made the final.
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Rajasthan: Farmer who threatened suicide asked to pay Rs 9.9 lakh for security
Jaipur, Dec 23: A farmer in Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu district has been asked to pay Rs 9.91 lakh for security arrangements made by police to prevent him from committing suicide after he had threatened to take the extreme step over non-payment of land compensation.
Vidhyadhar Yadav said he was distressed after his house was demolished for acquiring land for a cement plant in Gothada village in Nawalgarh in November without giving him compensation and that he never asked for the deployment of police force, for which he is being charged.
Yadav has now been given compensation of around Rs 3.8 crore.
But on December 17, Superintendent of Police Jhunjhunu served a notice which says that 99 police personnel -- one Additional Superintendent of Police, two Deputy Superintendent of Police, two inspectors, three sub-inspectors, six assistant sub-inspectors, 18 head constables and 67 constables -- were deployed and government vehicles were used for his security, which put burden on the exchequer.
It further said that the expenditure of Rs 9,91,577 incurred on his personal security has to be recovered from him.
"The notice has been served for recovery because the police force was deployed for security," SP Jhunjhunu Sharad Chowdhary said.
Yadav said when he was not given a proper response by the district administration and the management of the cement company regarding the compensation, he gave a memorandum to the district collector addressed to the president on December 9 to end his life, and gave an ultimatum till 11 am on December 11.
The farmer said that he had no option but to demand euthanasia because all his land was acquired and the house was demolished without giving him compensation.
"I had been frequently requesting the SDM and company officials to release the compensation amount but there was no proper response therefore I gave a memorandum to the district collector addressed to the President for euthanasia and gave an ultimatum till 11 December," he said.
To prevent him from taking any such step, policemen were deployed in the village on December 11. Yadav poured petrol on himself when the police foiled his immolation bid.
"I did not demand security. The district administration and police made the arrangements and now the SP has given me a recovery notice," Yadav said.
