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Rathore - The man and the magic
By: PTI
August 18, 2004
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Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore
AP
Photo | New Delhi:
The story of Major Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who
yesterday added his name into the Indian sporting history
winning the Olympic silver medal, is one of extreme dedication
and steely resolve to acheive greatness.
He served notice with his exploits in the
Manchester Commonwealth Games two years back when he won the
individual gold in double trap and also helped the team to win
the gold.
The 34-year-old from Jaipur was in superb
form going into the Olympics fully focussed on a podium finish
in Athens.
His exploits slowly pushed up his world
ranking and in the latest International Shooting Sport
Federation ranking list the Indian was ranked third with 1064
rating points behind Daniele Di Spigno of Italy (2378) and
UAE's Ahmed Almaktoum (1602), who pipped Rathore to win the
gold.
Four years back in the Sydney World Cup
Rathore ended 26th with a score of 131.
After the dual gold in Manchester, he
could manage only a 12th place in the Busan Asian Games in
2002 with a score of 132.
But 2003 saw a different script as he
started to hit the targets in the World Cups with amazing
consistency.
At Lonato he was eighth, at Rome he
finished seventh, fourth in Granada.
His two best performances of the year came
when he bagged bronze medal in New Delhi and in the World
Championships in Nicosia, Cyprus with a score of 189 (141,
48).
At the Sydney World Cup in March this
year, Rathore bagged the gold with a score of 187 (141, 46)
while his only disappointment came in this year's Asian
Shooting Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia when he
slipped to the sixth spot with a score of 176 (134, 42).
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Rathore's ten best
performances:
1. World
Cup, Sydney, 2004: Gold
2.
Asian Shooting Championships, New Delhi, 2003:
Gold
3. World
Championship, NICOSI, 2003: Bronze
4. World Cup, New Delhi, 2003:
Bronze
5. Asian Shooting
Championships, Bangkok, 2001: 4th
6. World Cup, Granada, 2003:
4th
7. World
Cup, New Delhi, 2000: 5th
8. Asian Shooting
Championships, Bangkok, 2002: 5th
9. Asian Shooting
Championships, Kuala Lumpur, 2004: 6th
10. World Cup Final, Rome,
2003: 7th
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Rathore
- The Majorsaab.
* Rathore,
an army major, had participated in Kargil War 1999.
* Rathore
received the Sword of Honour from Indian Military
Academy in 1990
* Rathore was attached to
the ninth Grenadiers after being commissioned in
December that year.
* Married to
an army doctor, Gayatri, Rathore took to shooting in
1996 and was trained in the Army Marksman Infantry
School in Mhow.
* He has
been sponsored by the Indian army along with the
National Rifle Association of India.
* For the
last two years, the army has sent him for various
international competitions.
* Chief of
Army Staff, General N C Vij, personally called up
Rathore's father Laxman Singh to congratulate him on his
son's success in the greatest sports event of the
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