Manu Bhaker fifth in women's 10m air pistol final at Asian Games 2026

Manu Bhaker finished fifth in the women's 10m air pistol final at the Aichi Pref. General Shooting Gallery on Wednesday during the Asian Games 2026. The result came after a close final in which she was narrowly eliminated during the elimination stage.

Bhaker arrived at Aichi with strong credentials from the Paris Olympics 2024, where she won an individual bronze in the 10m air pistol and a mixed team bronze alongside Sarabjot Singh. Those two medals made her the first Indian woman to win two medals at a single Olympic Games and raised expectations for her performance at the Asian Games.

In the final Bhaker was engaged in a tight contest with Cheng Yen-Ching of Chinese Taipei; Cheng led by 1.0 point after the first ten shots and the margin fluctuated only slightly, at one stage reaching about 1.1 points. After eighteen shots the gap stood at 0.8 points and Bhaker was eliminated, finishing on 181.1 to Cheng's 181.9.

The podium positions were taken by Choo Gaeun, who won gold with 246.3 points and set a new Asian Games record, China’s Shen Yiyao with silver on 241.3, and Jiang Ranxin with bronze on 221.6. Cheng Yen-Ching ultimately placed fourth with 200.7, having taken two more shots than Bhaker before the contest was decided.

Bhaker had qualified third overall for the final with a score of 579 out of 600 in the qualification round. Of the three Indian shooters in the event, Esha Singh finished fifteenth and Suruchi Singh finished twenty-sixth and did not advance to the final.

India also missed out on a medal in the women's 10m air pistol team event, finishing fourth with 1719 points; they were tied with bronze medallists Vietnam and lost the bronze on a lower count of inner ten shots.

Bhaker is scheduled to compete next in the 25m pistol event at the Asian Games, where she enters as the defending champion.