Olympic quota winner Manu Bhaker on Sunday left for Bhopal to continue her training at Madhya Pradesh State Shooting Academy during the time the capital’s Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range will be occupied with selection trials for rifle and shotgun shooters.
The 18-year-old Manu will train in Bhopal from January 4-10, before reporting for her selection trials in New Delhi on January 11.
“She has left for Bhopal as she cannot train at the shooting range in Delhi as the selection trials for rifle and shotgun shooters will be held there. And her trails will run from January 11-16, so she left in order to continue her practice,” said Manu’s father, Ram Kishan Bhaker.
The champion markswoman had been training without a break for months now and will be attending a camp in New Delhi after the conclusion of the trials.
The camp is expected to run from January 30 to February 26, after six days of quarantine in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prior to the upcoming trials, Manu had been training non-stop in Delhi after attending a full-fledged camp at the same venue, which got over on December 17.
“If she has to succeed at the Tokyo Olympics, she knows she cannot afford to miss a single day’s practice, and so the non-stop training,” Ram Kishan said of her daughter who competes in 10m and 25m pistol.
Before the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) had resumed its camps after the coronavirus-forced hiatus, Manu had been competing in online shooting competitions organised by former India shooter Shimon Sharif.
Meanwhile, the core group of Indian shooters for the Tokyo Olympic Games will converge here on Tuesday for selection trials in rifle, pistol and shotgun events, after which teams for the year’s first two ISSF World Cups will be picked.
