Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore

Lieutenant-Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore AVSM (born 29 January 1970) is a Veteran Indian shooter and politician (union minister), who rose to fame after winning the Silver Medal in Men's Double Trap at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. He is the first sportsperson to win an individual Silver for India since Norman Pritchard, who won two Silver Medals at the 1900 Paris Olympics. Rathore hails from Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.

Rathore graduated from the National Defence Academy, and since served in the Indian Army where he retired as a Lt Colonel in 2013, before joining politics. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He won his first Lok Sabha election in 2014 and is currently the Minister of State for Ministry of Information and Broadcasting under the Narendra Modi government.

Early life

Rathore was born in Jaisalmer (Rajasthan) as his Maternal grandfather was posted there. He belongs to a Rajput family based in Bikaner.

Shooting career

At the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, Rathore won a Gold Medal and set a new Commonwealth Games Record of 192 targets out of 200, which still stands. He also won the Team Gold Medal along 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 won Gold Medals in two World Shooting Championships, at Sydney in 2004 and Cairo in 2006.