| Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 29, 1970 |
| Occupation | Sportsman (Shooter) |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Competitor for India | ||
| Men's shooting | ||
| Olympic Games | ||
| Silver | 2004 Athens | Double trap |
| Commonwealth Games | ||
| Gold | 2006 Melbourne | Double trap individual |
| Silver | 2006 Melbourne | Double trap pairs |
| Gold | 2002 Manchester | Double trap individual |
| Gold | 2002 Manchester | Double trap pairs |
| Asian Games | ||
| Bronze | 2006 Doha | Double trap |
| Silver | 2006 Doha | Double trap teams |
| World Shotgun Championship | ||
| Bronze | 2003 Cyprus | Double trap individual |
| Asian Clay Target Championship | ||
| Gold | 2006 Singapore | Double trap individual |
| Gold | 2005 Bangkok | Double trap individual |
| Gold | 2004 Bangkok | Double trap individual |
| Gold | 2003 New Delhi | Double trap individual |
Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (born January 29, 1970 in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan) is an Indian shooter who won the silver medal in Men's Double Trap at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.[1] He is the first Indian (post independence) to win an individual silver, after Norman Pritchard, a British citizen, who won two silver medals at the 1900 Paris Olympics.[2]
Contents |
Rathore's silver was India's best individual Olympic performance post Indian Independence. In the numerous Olympic Games, India could not go beyond a Bronze Medal (Leander Paes, Tennis, 1996 Olympics; Karnam Malleshwari, Weight Lifting, 2000 Olympics), Rathore is credited for reviving the self belief of millions of Indians by his Silver Medal win. This Silver Medal win was a turning point in the history of Indian Olympic Sports.
In the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, he won the Individual Gold Medal setting a new Commonwealth Games Record, 192 targets out of 200, which still stands. He also won the Team Gold Medal with (Moraad Ali Khan). Rathore, went on to successfully defend his Commonwealth Champion title by winning the Gold Medal at the (Melbourne) Commonwealth Games in 2006. He also won the Silver in the Team event with (Vikram Bhatnagar). He has won Gold Medals in two World Cup Shooting Competitions, in (Sydney) 2004 and (Cairo) 2006. In 2006 he won the Bronze Medal in the World Cup Final in (Spain) (an event only for the top 12 shooters of the world). He was ranked no 3 in the world for the most of the year of 2003 and 2004 and briefly went on to be the world no 1 in early 2004 and the world no 2 after the Athens Olympics. He also won a world Championship Bronze Medal in 2003 after a gap of nearly 40 years (earlier in 1962 Karni Singh of Bikaner had won a silver medal in the World shooting Championship in Cairo). Incidentally Rathore too belongs to the family of Bikaner. Rajyavardhan is accredited for winning the Asian Clay Target Gold Medal for four times in a row, year 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. He also holds an Individual Bronze Medal which he won in Doha, Asian Games 2006.In all, from the period of 2002 to 2006 he had won 25 International Medals in highly competitive competitions in his sport of Doubletrap Shooting.
He is a now a Colonel in the Indian Army. An alumnus of National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla Pune (N.D.A)