If you Google the name of Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore these days, more pages are thrown up on his political career. However, the real story of ‘Chilly’ Rathore, as old-timers know him, is of how he fell in love with double-trap shooting.
Trap shooting has been a part of the Olympics programme for decades. Shooting at orange clay birds flying out from different stations at different trajectories had been mastered by Maharaja Karni Singh of Bikaner, a true legend. He did not win an Olympic medal, but shot at various World Championships for India and was a pioneer. That legacy was carried forward by Raja Randhir Singh, whose association with Indian sports goes back more than six decades. Randhir shot at multiple Olympics, and won medals at the Asian Games as well, but it needed Rathore to make the double trap famous.
There are many who shot trap, and double trap. What’s the difference? In trap, one bird is released. Tracking its path and pulling the trigger involves quick reaction, great hand-eye coordination and squeezing the trigger with perfect timing. It involves years of practice.
If trap shooting is so technical, then you can well imagine what double trap is like, where you have to kill two clay birds. Unless a marksman is blessed with cool nerves, a great presence of mind, and coordination skills to obliterate the orange birds, he cannot win points. Two marksmen from India, Moraad Ali Khan – who shifted from trap to double trap – and Rathore mastered this sport. Comparisons between the two are academic, but Moraad had already won medals for India in trap at the Asian level and was an Arjuna Awardee by the time Rathore burst on to the international stage.
Rathore was almost 32 when he starred at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. The world took notice of him as a double-trap marksman who had that killer instinct. But then, not many would have predicted that he would be so ready to shoot his first Olympics at Athens in 2004 and win a silver for India. It was both historic and defining, as it was the first medal for India in shooting.
Two decades ago, there were not too many who followed shooting as a sport. To watch Rathore hit those clay targets so methodically and with precision to clinch silver was an emotional sight. This writer had interacted several times with him and his family. The role played by his wife Gayatri, who was also in the Indian Army as a doctor, can never be discounted.
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Not many would know that when Rathore was shooting in Athens, Gayatri was in her prayer room at their Delhi Cantonment residence. Those were the days when he was just another athlete. For the few who jumped into office cabs and rushed to the Rathore residence to congratulate Gayatri, the scenes were very emotional.
The first reaction from her was one of disbelief. Much before she came out to face the TV cameras, I had the opportunity to meet her. The tears which flowed were of joy, for she had played her part. Right through the Olympic final, she had been praying.
After Rathore returned to New Delhi, he was kind enough to come to the newspaper office where I worked in, and show us the medal. These days, such things are unthinkable. Soon, he was all over newspapers and magazines and became a celebrity. Many more shooters from India thought they could also shift to double trap and become champions. Sadly, it is no longer part of the Olympic programme.
The hours Rathore had put into practice in extreme heat during his nascent career at the Karni Singh ranges were extremely demanding. He achieved success after he slogged for it. Another shooter, Ronjan Sodhi, also did well for India in double trap at the Asian Games in 2010, and at the World Championship, but could not create an impact at the Olympics.
The Rathore who won an Olympic silver was not the same when he had a second shot at glory in Beijing (2008). To be honest, he had not put in the same kind of effort. Once he was done with his shooting career and took voluntary retirement from the Indian Army, he entered politics. As a Union Minister, he held important portfolios like Information and Broadcasting and Youth Affairs and Sports. Now, he has shifted to state politics, and is a minister in the Rajasthan assembly.
But as a record contingent of Indian shooters head to Paris, it is Rathore the ace shooter that they will all dream of emulating.
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