Heartbreak for Manu Bhaker as she misses out on grand treble at Olympics
Chateauroux (France) (PTI): The sensational Manu Bhaker's dream of a grand treble went up in smoke after she lost the tie-shoot for bronze medal to Hungarian Veronika Major by the narrowest of margins in the women's 25m sports pistol event at the Olympic Games here on Saturday.
In a high-quality final, Bhaker gave it her all and was placed No.1 among eight shooters for a brief period, but she could not maintain her consistency and eventually finished fourth.
Nonetheless, the 22-year-old will return home with her twin bronze-medal feat in women's 10m air pistol and mixed team 10m air pistol partnering Sarabjot Singh.
The affable Indian shot 28 in the final to be tied at third place along with Veronika after the eighth series of five shots. She missed two of the five shots to aggregate three points, while Veronika drilled in four bullets into the target to clinch the third spot, leaving Bhaker to pack up the kit and leave her firing station.
Expectations were really high from Bhaker to bring home a hat-trick of medals given her awe-inspiring form. She stood up to the challenge even after slipping to sixth position early in the final.
Bhaker conceded at the end of the contest that she was nervous, and no matter how hard she tried to remain calm, she couldn't.
"I got like really nervous about it, but again, I was trying my best to keep calm and to just try to do my best. But that was not enough," Bhaker said after the event.
The first series was a disaster in which Bhaker missed three out of five targets, but gradually she cut down on the errors and bounced back in the second and third series, shooing two consecutive 'fours' to take her points tally to 10 going into the elimination round.
The elimination round was topsy-turvy to say the least. Bhaker's chances waxed and waned until she took the top spot for a brief period in the seventh series (fourth elimination round).
However, South Korea's Jin Yang wrested back the top spot immediately even as Bhaker slipped to tied third with a rank bad three misses in the eighth round, which saw her slump from second spot to joint third with Veronika on 28 points.
The shoot-off was nerve-jangling for both the markswomen and Bhaker had three clear shots out of five on target, while Veronika had four.
The ace shooter said that she will take a lot of positives from the fourth-place finish and come back stronger in the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
"It (Olympics) turned out to be very good for me, but well, there's always a next time so I'm already looking forward to the next one (in LA)," she said.
"I'm glad that I got two medals, but right now, I'm not very... well, fourth place is not a very good place," said Bhaker with tears in her eyes.
Her finish just outside the medal bracket once again brought back memories of fourth-place finishes of Indian shooters in the quadrennial showpiece.
She joined the likes of Joydeep Karmakar (men's 50m rifle prone, 2012 London), Abhinav Bindra (men's 10m air rifle, 2016 Rio) and Arjun Babuta (10m air rifle, 2024 Paris Olympics), among others.
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J’khand: All 7 on board air ambulance killed in crash, bodies brought to hospital for post-mortem
Ranchi (PTI): All seven persons on board an air ambulance were killed after the aircraft crashed near Simaria in Jharkhand’s Chatra district, and their bodies have been brought to a hospital for post-mortem examination, officials said on Tuesday.
The Beechcraft C90 air ambulance, operated by Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd, was en route to Delhi from Ranchi when it crashed on Monday evening in the Bariatu Panchayat area of Simaria, located deep inside a forest, killing all seven onboard, including two pilots.
"We have brought all the seven bodies for post-mortem at Sadar Hospital, Chatra. The crash is being investigated," an official told PTI.
ALSO READ: Air ambulance with 7 onboard to Delhi from Ranchi crashes in Jharkhand's Chatra
The aircraft took off from Ranchi airport at 7.11 pm and went missing around 7.30 pm. It lost contact with the air traffic control about 20 minutes after departure, he said.
Ranchi airport director Vinod Kumar said inclement weather could be a possible reason behind the crash, though the exact cause would be ascertained after a detailed probe.
Jharkhand Health Minister Irfan Ansari said the state government will conduct a probe into how permission was given to the aircraft to fly during “inclement weather”. He also said proper compensation would be given to the kin of the deceased.
Terming the crash extremely unfortunate, Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth said unpleasant weather could be one of the reasons, which will be determined by the probe.
In a post on X, former chief minister and BJP leader Champai Soren said he was deeply saddened.
The deceased have been identified as Captain Vivek Vikas Bhagat, Captain Savrajdeep Singh, Sanjay Kumar, Dr Vikas Kumar Gupta, Sachin Kumar Mishra, Archana Devi and Dhuru Kumar.
Meanwhile, a lingering sense of grief prevailed in Chatra district, as the near and dear ones of those killed in the crash expressed shock and disbelief.
Bajrangi Prasad, the father of deceased Dr Vikas Kumar Gupta, said he had sold all his land to make his son a doctor, who was posted at Sadar Hospital in Ranchi.
"He has a seven-year-old son... He was meritorious and had completed his MBBS from Odisha’s Cuttack," Prasad, who hails from Bihar’s Aurangabad district, said.
Family members of Sanjay Kumar (41), however, blamed the “poor” health infrastructure behind the tragedy.
"Had we given proper treatment to my brother-in-law Sanjay in Ranchi, precious lives could have been saved. I lost both both Sanjay and sister Archana Devi in the incident," Kumar said.
Chatra Deputy Commissioner Keerthishree G had earlier told PTI that the bodies of all seven deceased were retrieved from the crash site and shifted to Chatra hospital for post-mortem examination.
In a statement, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said the Beechcraft C90 aircraft (VT-AJV) was operating a medical evacuation flight on the Ranchi-Delhi sector when it crashed in Kasaria Panchayat of Chatra district.
“The aircraft was airborne from Ranchi at 19:11 IST. After establishing contact with Kolkata at 19:34 IST, the aircraft lost communication and radar contact with Kolkata at approximately 100 nautical miles south-east of Varanasi,” it said, adding that there were seven people on board, including two crew members.
An Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) team has been dispatched to the crash site.
According to the DGCA website, Delhi-based non-scheduled operator Redbird has six aircraft in its fleet, including the one that crashed.
Anant Sinha, CEO of Devkamal Hospital in Ranchi, told PTI that the air ambulance was arranged by one of their patients.
"The patient, Sanjay Kumar, a resident of Chandwa in Latehar district, was brought to the hospital with 65 per cent burn injuries on February 16. He was being treated in the hospital," he said.
The family members decided to take him to Delhi for better treatment, Sinha said.
"They arranged for an air ambulance on Monday. The patient left the hospital for Delhi around 4.30 pm," he said.
