Famous Indian Shooters

Shooting has been a popular sport in India since yore. Shooting was a favorite sport with the Maharajas of the former princely states of India. These Indian kings were expert with guns and often used to go on shooting sprees on horseback. The shooting expertise was an essential constituent of the royal grooming process and hence the origin of some of the leading shooters of India can be traced back to the erstwhile imperial families of India.

Shooting as a sport gained importance in India when the National Rifle Association of India(NRAI) was set up in 1951.NRAI which is affiliated to the (ISSF)- International Shooting Sports Federation, is the principal administrative body promoting the sport of shooting in India. Indian shooters came into limelight for the first time after winning the first individual Olympic silver medal. The famous shooters of India who have glorified India's name are Abhinav Bindra, Dr. Karni Singh, Gagan Narang. Randhir Singh, Rajyavardhan Rathore, Jaspal Rana Anjali Bhagat and Samresh Jung.

Jaspal Rana was one of the great shooters of India who bagged the gold medal at the 46th World Shooting Championship (Junior Section) and had a world record score of 590 points in the Centre Fire Pistol at Milan in 1994. Since then Jaspal Rana has won a plethora of accolades both in national and international events.

Anjali Bhagat the female ace shooter attracted four gold medals in the individual and pairs events at the Manchester Commonwealth Games of 2002. She became the first Indian to qualify for the Olympics in the year 2004.She also received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award for 2003-2004.

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won the first individual silver medal for India in the Men's Double Trap event at the Summer Olympics. He also won gold medal at the Men's Double Trap at the Asian Clay Shooting Championships, 2005 in Bangkok.

Last Updated on: Aug 09, 2017