Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore wins silver in double trap at the 2004 Athens Games
Major Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore provided the bright spot for Indian sports on that day. Yes, he had that status in the army before rising to the rank of colonel and eventually becoming the nation’s minister of sports.
The double trap was a one-day competition with three 50-shot rounds, followed by the final 50 in the afternoon, unlike the other shotgun events.
With 46 at the beginning of the day, Rathore had the second-best total in the round. He fell to a 43 and sixth position in the second round as a result of the windy conditions.
In the third round, Rathore shot 46, which was the third-best score in the 25-player field. Rathore had a 135 and had qualified.
Rathore escaped the shoot-off for the final position, which had five competitors, including Fehaid Aldeehani, a future Olympic champion.
Even before the final, it appeared like the UAE’s Shaikh Ahmed Almaktoum would win the gold medal because he had amassed 144 points after three rounds of 48.
Rathore was perfect, finishing the first 30 points with just one miss while holding a four-point advantage for second place. Almaktoum didn’t miss a shot in the first 35 attempts, winning the gold with a commanding lead after the 40th stroke. Eventually, he had the gold with a 10-point margin.
Rathore won the silver medal after shooting the final two pairs, one point better than Wang Zheng and two points better than Hu Binyuan and Hakan Dahlby. Rathore fired one final shot and celebrated by punching the air.
The Asian Games gold medalist in trapping and six-time Olympian Raja Randhir Singh presented the awards. ‘I had a feeling he’d pull it off,’ Randhir proclaimed,’He was brilliant.’
‘I am not specially happy that I have won the silver medal. I am happy that people will now believe that we can win silver medals in Olympic Games,’ said Rathore, quite composed.
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