Manu Bhaker just lost the man who shaped her into an Olympic legend.
And now, she has to keep shooting.
On June 12, India's shooting world stopped breathing.
Jaspal Rana — her coach, mentor, second father — collapsed from a heart attack.
He was just 49.
Gone. Just like that.
This wasn't just a coach.
This was the architect of Manu's Paris fairytale.
Two bronze medals at Paris 2024.
India's most successful individual shooting campaign. Ever.
The duo had even broken up in 2021… then reunited in 2023.
And that reunion rewrote Indian shooting history.
Rana himself was a legend before he was a coach — 13 gold medals across the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. A Padma Shri. A world junior champion.
He didn't just train Manu. He built her.
A packed calendar staring her down:
And suddenly… no one in her corner.
The NRAI had to act. Fast.
A 45-year-old Serbian pistol expert from Belgrade.
Head coach of Serbia's national pistol team for over a decade.
Already India's head foreign pistol coach since early 2026.
Contracted all the way through the 2028 LA Olympics.
Now she officially steps into Manu's corner — for training camps, for competitions, for the long road ahead.
Not a replacement. Nobody replaces Jaspal Rana.
But a steady hand at a moment Manu desperately needs one.
"This is a sensitive phase for Manu," NRAI secretary general Pawan Singh said.
Think about what she's being asked to do:
All at once. At 24 years old.
India's rifle and pistol squad heads to Hangzhou for the ISSF World Cup.
Then a prep camp in Changwon, South Korea, before the Asian Games.
A new accent in her corner. A new chapter in her career.
But the same fire in her hands.
Manu Bhaker isn't just shooting for medals anymore.
She's shooting for the man who's no longer there to watch.
That's all for now!
