RAJYAVARDHAN RATHORE
Silver: Shooting, men’s double trap; Athens 2004.
Published : Jul 28, 2016 19:29 IST
Rajyavardhan Rathore arrived in Athens as a medal prospect. He had won a bronze medal in the 2003 World championship and then the gold in the World Cup. He was ranked World No. 3 at the time of the 2004 Olympics.
Two other Indian shooters, Abhinav Bindra and Anjali Bhagwat, had qualified for the finals in Athens but neither could reach the podium. So, the onus was on the Major from Nine Grenadiers.
He scored 44 out of 50 in the last round, where he covered a lot of ground. The Rajput from Bikaner showed nerves of steel to win India’s first individual silver medal at the Olympics. It was the country’s only medal at the 2004 Games.
Rathore these days spends less time on the shooting range and more at the Shastri Bhavan in New Delhi as India’s Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting.