Famous Indian Athletes
The remarkable success of Indian shooters at the international events has paved the way to the birth a fresh new breed of non-cricketing sports icons for the country. The veteran Indian shooters have delivered outstanding performances at the major international events like Olympics. In the present time, the bunch of expert Indian shooters – from Abhinav Bindra to Anjali Bhagwat – has the whole country drooling over them for more such outstanding performances in the future. Even though shooters like Jaspal Rana have been doing well in various prestigious shooting sport competitions, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore’s Olympic silver medal catapulted the Indian shooters to instant stardom.
Jaspal Rana : Jaspal Rana is one of the most outstanding shooters India has ever produced. Born on 28 June 1976, Rana lent a glamorous touch to the sober game of shooting, both with his astounding achievements and with his good looks. Contesting primarily the 25 m Centre Fire Pistol category, Rana has secured medals for a number of times. He has won a gold medal at the 1994 Asian Games, 2006 Commonwealth Games and 2006 Asian Games as well.
Dr. Karni Singh : Maharaja of the erstwhile princely state of Bikaner, Karni Singh was a legendary shooter in the Indian shooting circuit. A shooter par excellence, Singh was world renowned for his outclassed talent and brilliant performance. However, he did not restrict himself to shooting and had varied interests as well. This is well reflected from the fact that Singh indulged in playing tennis, golf and cricket as well.
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore : Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has been the poster boy of Indian shooting ever since he won the first individual Olympic silver medal for India, in the 2004 Athens Games. Rathore brought the entire nation to its feet with that awe-inspiring performance, in Men’s Double Trap event. The event has already become a part of Indian sporting folklore for the sheer delight it brought to this humongous nation of one billion people.
Randhir Singh : Shooting has been a popular sport in India and was a favorite game with the Maharajas of the former princely states of India. The need to be adept and an expertise in shooting was an essential constituent to be a true royal descendant. This is one of the reasons that the origin of some of the leading shooters of India can be traced back to the erstwhile imperial families of India.
Samresh Jung : Shooting has been one of the most popular games in the India. In the ancient times, the need to be a master in the field was imperative, taking into consideration the colossal empires handled by the Maharajas. To be a true royal descendant, one had to have a forte at shooting. In the present times, shooting is looked upon more as an activity or game. Talking about the famous Indian shooters of the present era, Samresh Jung is one name that comes to mind.
Abhinav Singh Bindra : Born 28 September 1982, in Dehradun, he is an Indian shooter and an Olympic as well as World Champion in the10 m Air Rifle event. By winning the gold in the 10 m Air Rifle event in 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, he became the first Indian to win an individual gold medal at the Olympic Games. It was also India’s first gold medal since 1980, when the Men’s Field Hockey Team won the gold He is the first and only Indian to have held both the World and Olympic titles at the same time, a feat he accomplished by capturing the Gold Medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, after having won the gold at the 2006 ISSF World Shooting Championships, he also won Gold Medal in 2014 Commonwealth Games at Glasgow.
In 2014, Abhinav Bindra joined the GoSports Foundation, Bangalore as a member of their board of advisors. In collaboration with the GoSports Foundation, he will also provide support to India’s upcoming talented shooters through the Abhinav Bindra Shooting Development Programme.
Abhinav Bindra became the youngest participant in the 1998 Commonwealth Games. His breakthrough came when he won a Bronze in the 2001 Munich World Cup with a new junior world record score of 597/600. Bindra was also the youngest Indian participant at the 2000 Olympic Games.
He won six gold medals at various international meets in 2001. In 2000 he was honoured with the Arjuna Award and the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 2001.
In the Air rifle event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, Manchester, he won Gold in the Pairs event. Bindra also won Silver in the individual event.
Abhinav Bindra won the Gold medal in the Men’s 10-metre Air rifle event at the 12th Asian Shooting Championships, which was held in Doha Qatar.
Abhinav Bindra lost in the qualification round in 2012 London Olympics finishing with a score of 594 placing him in 16th, though his compatriot Gagan Narang made it to the finals in 3rd place, and went on to win the bronze medal for India, thereby opening the medal tally for India in London Olympics 2012.
In 2014 Commonwealth Games at Glasgow, Abhinav Bindra again won Gold in the Men’s 10m air rifle singles event.
Gagan Narang : Gagan Narang is an Indian shooter, in Air rifle shooting, supported by the Olympic Gold Quest. He was the first Indian to qualify for the London Olympics. He won the Bronze Medal in the Men’s 10 m Air Rifle Event at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London with a final score of 701.1 on 30 July 2012
Gagan Narang is a gold medalist in the Afro Asian games, 2003 in Hyderabad on 26 October 2003 in Men’s 10m air rifle competition.[15] He had won an air rifle gold medal at the World Cup 2006 and followed that event in April 2010.
In a pre-Olympic event in Hannover, Germany, Gagan shot a panis air rifle score higher than the world record, 704.3 as opposed to 703.1 set by Thomas Farnik of Austria in the World Cup 2006. Gagan Narang won 4 gold medal at 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Gagan qualified for the 2008 ISSF World Cup Final after he won a gold in the World Cup in China earlier in 2008. Gagan shot a perfect 600 in the qualification round. He scored 103.5 in the final round making total score of 703.5 to gain the universe record.[16][17] On 4 November 2008 he broke Austria‘s Thomas Farnik‘s record, set in the 2006 World Cup final in Granada, Spain. Gagan said his win was special because Barack Obama, who won the United States’ Presidential election on same day, was a source of inspiration.
Gagan Narang added 4 gold medals to the Indian tally at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. In the Men’s 10 m air rifle singles event, he shot a perfect 600 which was a new record. Gagan also clinched a silver medal in his pet event at the Asian Games 2010. He also combined with Abhinav Bindra and Sanjeev Rajput to provide the country with another silver, in the team event behind champions China. Both of his silvers were won on the opening day of Asian Games.
Gagan Narang won the bronze medal in the 10m air rifle event at the 2012 London Olympics with a total score of 701.1 becoming India’s first medal winner at the 2012 games. Gagan was just behind the silver medallist Niccolo Campriani of Italy who scored 701.5, while the gold medallist Alin George Moldoveanu of Romania was at 702.1. However he failed to qualify for the finals of the men’s 50-metre rifle three positions at the Royal Artillery Barracks
Gagan Narang won 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal in 50-metre rifle prone and 50-metre rifle 3 position respectively at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow
Mairaj Ahmad Khan : Mairaj Ahmad Khan, born in Khurja, Uttar Pradesh is the First Indian to Qualify for the skeet event at the Olympics, he is now the finest Skeet shooter India has ever seen, he had been into shooting since 1995 and from then there was no looking back. He pursued the sport with lot of determination and will and kept saying to himself all these years that one day he would definitely make a name for himself in this discipline.
After 15 years of chasing his dream to qualify for Olympics he got his dream come true last year when in Lonato he clinched the quota for Rio Olympics.
“I remember flopping 15 years ago very clearly. So I kept telling myself that I was a better shooter now. Stronger, faster, experienced,” he explains. The self-psyching made the difference for the 39-year-old, who became the first Indian to qualify for the quadrennial event in skeet.
Mairaj is now the face of Skeet in the Indian arena, although his first love had always been cricket in his sporting carrier
As a 24-year-old he took up skeet professionally. He rose through the ranks, winning the national championship three times, a gold medal in team skeet event at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and another team gold in the 2011 Asian Shotgun Championship. After the Asian event, he was hoping to make his Olympic debut in 2012, but due to certain circumstances could not get through.
He recently won a Silver at the Issf World Cup Championship held in Rio, Brazil, the first shooting athlete to win this title in Shotgun – Skeet Discipline.
Mairaj Ahmed Khan the National Champion is now an Olympian.
Saniya Sheikh : Saniya Sheikh is a champion shooter, but this student of Lady Shri Ram College was caught in the crossfire between education and sports.
Saniya shot 86 out of 100 in the women’s skeet event in the Asian championship, while the silver and bronze medals went for 87. “It was just one bird, and I missed two medals, including the one in the Grand Prix. If I can shoot this well after only two days of training, I am sure that I can do much better with good training,” says Saniya.
Coach Marcello Dradi of Italy who has been training the Indian shotgun shooters for more than a decade concurs. “Saniya was superb in the final, and shot the best score. The flash targets in the final have a different flight. With expert coaching in skeet she can definitely qualify for the next Olympics in Rio,” says Dradi.
OWES IT TO HER FAMILY
Though she is supported by the Jindal group, Saniya owes it to her family for being able to pursue such a costly sport. In fact, Saniya shoots about 300 cartridges a day at times and borrows some from her father Suleyheen Sheikh or brothers Sheeraz Sheikh and Hamza Sheikh.
“Each leading shooter is allowed to import 15,000 rounds of ammunition every year. It is not enough for me. Of course, we are looking for more support to train and compete better,” Saniya says.
She is like any normal girl who spends a lot of time with friends and listens to music, but with a shotgun in hand she forgets the world. Incidentally, she avoids reading, as she feels that it would affect her eye-sight for shooting.
Quite keen to solve her problem, though the authorities may tune the rules suitably to help sports persons of high caliber like her to excel in the international arena.
