NEW DELHI: Double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker on Monday said that her mother and coach are her biggest inspirations in life, highlighting their strong role in shaping her shooting career.
Bhaker, who won two bronze medals at the Paris Olympics and became a household name in the country, credited her success to a strong upbringing by her mother.
Speaking at TOI Kanpur Dialogues, the 22-year-old said that her coach Jaspal Rana played a huge role in her Olympic success.
“If a strong woman is raising you, I think, there is no bigger influence than that — my mother. I get my confidence from my mother and my coach, Jaspal sir,” Manu said.
“He has been very strict but he has been the right mentor for me my entire life. Be it personal life, or social, and of course shooting, he’s the boss of it. So everything he has covered.
“If you look around every person has a story to tell and every person goes through some struggles. People have different methods to cope with difficult times in their lives. Every person goes through hard times in their lives, and good times in their lives as well and if you look around and actually talk to people about it you will get to know about their journey and take inspiration from it,” she added.

At the TOI Kanpur Dialogues Bhaker also said that she is in awe of ‘Sprint King’ Usain Bolt’s journey as an athlete.

“One book that I’ll highly recommend is Usain Bolt’s story. His story is too amazing. I liked his story very much as how he faced failures in his first Olympics and then going forward became world champion and the Olympic champion.
“He achieved everything in second Olympics, winning all the events. He was the champion athlete in the third and fourth Olympics again. His journey has been amazing. How he rose to bigger heights coming from a humble family background is truly inspirational,” she added.