Born on January 29, 1970, Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore is a politician, Olympic medallist and also a retired colonel in the Indian Army. He is currently serving as a cabinet minister at the Industry & Commerce, Youth Affairs & Sports Department in the government of Rajasthan since December last year.
He was a champion when it came to double trap and won a staggering 25 medals at the international level in the men’s double trap event. It also included a historic silver medal at the Athens Olympics in 2004. He still owns a Commonwealth Games record to his name having won a gold medal after hitting 192 targets out of 200 in 2002 in Manchester.
He then clinched gold in 2006 Commonwealth Games as well apart from winning the top medal at the ISSF World Shooting Championship 2006 in Cairo. During the period 2003 to 2005, Rathore was honoured with Arjuna (2003-04), Major Dhyan Khel Ratna (2004-05) and Padma Shri (2005) awards.
