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Sharp shooter
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Ace shooter Major Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore now sets his eyes on the Olympic medal
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WHEN WORLD No. 2 Mark Russel was asked for tips on how to shoot, he pointed to a strapping young man and advised, "Just watch Chilly shoot." Coming from an Aussie, that was something.
The man going by the nickname of Chilly was Major Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore of India. In a little over five years, the 33-year old had left his mark on the world of shooting, if his achievements are anything to go by. He will however be missed at the National shooting championships, now under way at the University of Hyderabad range.
In the World shooting championships in Cyprus, earlier this year, he clinched the bronze, a feat he replicated in Delhi during the ISSF World Cup. This year in particular has been quite a productive one for the Jaipur native. If these were his individual achievements, he was instrumental in India clinching bronze in ISSF World Cup in Delhi and the Asian Clay shooting championships, also in Delhi.
His hunt for the precious metal culminated in the Asian Clay shooting championships in Delhi. Not that he has not been in the gold hunt. His triumph in the Commonwealth Games saw him better the best in the business.
At the recent Afro-Asian games, his dominance went unchallenged. The light played tricks on his vision, as did some sleepiness, for he had trained in bright conditions. But like the champion he is, Rathore brought all these conditions that would have crushed lesser shooters, under control.
The bullets from his rifle powdered the clay pigeons, flitting to and fro in speeds ranging around 90 kmph. The fact that he scattered those `birds' to smithereens, spoke of how well he had sighted his targets before squeezing the trigger.
The winds could have played havoc as also the background, reducing the high-speed `prey' to mere blurs against the thick foliage that served as a backdrop.
True to his earlier form, he got the better of Chinese contender Chin Wei and Chin Shie of Chinese Taipei, both of whom Rathore had beaten with good margins in every competition earlier in the year. The Delhi-based Army officer had become Asian champion in the teeth of competition from these abovementioned gents. In all these achievements, his points ranged between 138 and 141 out of 150.
Rathore could well have rested on his laurels with the smugness of a gunslinger blowing the fumes away from his six-shooter, but chose instead to pose for the shutterbugs and answer questions thrown at him by the hack-pack. For the future, he has trained his sights on the prize that has eluded the greatest, but which he seems intent to lay his hands on the Olympic gold.
A. JOSEPH ANTONY
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