Manu Bhaker finishes fifth in 10m air pistol final in Aichi-Nagoya; next starts 25m pistol on Sept 27

Manu Bhaker finished fifth in the women's 10m air pistol final at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, on Wednesday. She recorded 181.1 points in the final and was eliminated after her 18th shot.

The 24-year-old, a two-time Olympic bronze medallist at Paris 2024, had secured a place in the final by qualifying third with a score of 579 out of 600. Bhaker endured a slow opening in qualification with a series of 95s before recovering with rounds of 96, 96 and 98 to reach the top eight.

In the medal final Bhaker was locked in a close battle with Cheng Yen-Ching of Chinese Taipei for the fourth and final medal-adjacent position. The margin between them hovered around a point during much of the contest and narrowed to 0.8 points after both had completed 18 shots, the stage at which Bhaker was eliminated. Cheng finished fourth with 200.7 points.

South Korea's Choo Gaeun won the gold medal with 246.3 points, setting a new Asian Games record. China’s Shen Yiyao took silver with 241.3 points, while Jiang Ranxin claimed bronze with 221.6.

The Indian women's 10m air pistol team — Bhaker, Esha Singh and Suruchi Singh — finished fourth with 1719 points, level on total with bronze medallists Vietnam but losing out on a lower count of inner ten shots. Individually in qualification, Esha placed 16th with 572 points and Suruchi was 26th with 568.

Bhaker's next event at the Asian Games is the women's 25m pistol, scheduled for September 27 and 28. She was part of India’s gold medal-winning team in this event at the previous Asian Games.