'Within 2-3 days the upper layer started coming off': Manu Bhaker on her historic Paris Olympic medals losing sheen

With the Paris Games medals losing their sheen barely months after being awarded to athletes Indias shooting star Manu Bhaker says there is no bigger souvenir for a sportsperson than an Olympic medal and its quality should be topnotchThe shiny top layer of the two bronze medals won by Bhaker in womens 10m air pistol and 10m mixed team with Sarabjot Singh peeled off exposing the core She along with several athletes around the world have highlighted the issue of damaged medals and called for their replacementAt the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday as she basked in the glory of winning the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award the 22yearold ace shooter confirmed that the top layer of her medals had indeed peeled off which seemed to have left her quite upsetSoon after we got the medals within 23 days the upper layer started coming off I can say this after seeing my medal whose top coating has come off I feel that the Olympic medals are something to be cherished for life because a very big memory is associated with with that medal said Bhaker during a media interaction after receiving the Khel RatnaI think there is no bigger souvenir than that in an athletes career The quality should be really top notch and if the IOC International Olympic Committee is replacing it then its a very good decision because a lot of athletes in India and other countries have complained and many of them are very upset as well she addedDamaged medals will be systematically replaced by the Monnaie de Paris the French state mint and engraved in an identical way to the originals the IOC said earlier this weekBhaker took a break from competitions following her Paris success skipping the yearend World Cup Finals and the national championships but with the 2028 Los Angeles Games in mind she has been training in earnest for the past couple of monthsYes Ive started my training its been twoandahalf months Im sure Ill have my fair share of ups and downs in the runup to the 2028 Olympics thats how life goes Im mentally prepared for that she saidThe ace shooter would be targeting the numerous World Cups this year and the World Championships and Asian Games in 2026She said the Khel Ratna would definitely motivate her to change the colour of her medal in Los AngelesDefinitely the Khel Ratna is one of the most prestigious awards in the country and its an honour for me I am really grateful to all the people who supported me in this journeyLooking forward this is going to motivate me further I will try my best to work even harder and perform even better Changing the colour of the medal that is the goal Ill have to really work very hard said Bhaker who is looking to update her 25m pistol with the latest version of PardiniEvery year the award ceremony comes with its share of controversies While several Paris Games medalwinning para athletes were unhappy with their names being ignored for the Khel Ratna Bhakers name too was missing from the initial list of nomineesBhaker said the award selection panel would have followed due processes but sometimes errors can happenThe selection committee too would be taking a decision after putting in a lot of thought Somewhere some little bhool chook reh jaati hai errors and omissions can happenIm sure they would be working to rectify that I hope in future too they will take even better decisions said Bhaker who added that she will continue to work with legendary shooterturnedcoach Jaspal Rana for the LA GamesBhaker added that her focus would be divided equally between 10m air pistol and 25m sports pistol in the runup to the next GamesYes I have always shot both the events and both are my favourites You cant differentiate between your kids can you I really love both the events Ill be working on both of them she addedWith agency inputs