Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (born 29 January 1970) is an Indian politician, Olympic medallist in shooting and

retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

in the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

. He is serving as a

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

at the Industry & Commerce, Youth Affairs & Sports Department in the Government of Rajasthan since December 2023. Rathore was a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha from Jaipur Rural seat since 2014 till 2023. He won 25 international medals at various championships for Double Trap Shooting including a silver medal at

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

in Men's Double Trap event. Rathore served as a commissioned officer in The Grenadiers regiment of the

before retiring in 2013 as a

. Following his retirement from the army and shooting, he also acted in some advertisements and tv shows after that he later became a member of the parliament for the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

in 2014. In November 2014, he was made the

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

for Information and Broadcasting. Rathore served as a

Cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

with independent charge for

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is a branch of the Government of India which administers the Department of Youth Affairs and the Department of Sports in India. Mansukh Mandaviya is the current Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports foll ...

from 2017 until 2019.

Personal life

Rajyavardhan was born in

Jaisalmer Jaisalmer , nicknamed ''The Golden city'', is a city in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, located west of the state capital Jaipur, in the heart of the Thar Desert. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Jaisalmer district ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

to Colonel Lakshman Singh Rathore (Retd.), an Army Colonel of Garabdesar, Lunkaransar,

Bikaner Bikaner () is a city in the northwest of the States and territories of India, state of Rajasthan, India. It is located northwest of the state capital, Jaipur. It is the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division. Fo ...

,and Manju Raghav Bhondsi, a teacher, on 29 January 1970. His educational qualifications include B.A., Instructor-Weapons (MMG, AGL, Small Arms), Grading Tactics (YO) Course. He was educated at the National Defence Academy, Pune and Infantry School, Mhow. He married Maj. Gayatri Rathore (nee Kapkoti), hailing from Kapkot-Almora in Uttarakhand, on 16 February 1997. She served as a doctor by profession in the

. They have a son and a daughter.

Military career

Rathore is a graduate of the 77th Course of the

National Defence Academy The National Defence Academy (NDA) is the joint defence service training institute of the Indian Armed Forces. Here, cadets of the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force train together before they go on to their respective service a ...

. After graduating from the NDA, Rathore attended the

Indian Military Academy The Indian Military Academy (IMA) is one of the oldest military academies in India, and trains officers for the Indian Army. Located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, it was established in 1932 following a recommendation by a military committee set up ...

where he was awarded the Sword of Honor for the best all-round Gentleman Cadet. He was also the recipient of the Sikh Regiment Gold Medal, awarded to the best sportsman of the course. He was later commissioned in the 9th Grenadiers (Mewar) Regiment on 15 December 1990. He was promoted to lieutenant on 15 December 1992 and to captain on 15 December 1995. Rathore fought in the

Kargil War The Kargil War, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Ladakh, then part of the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir (state), Jammu and Kashmir and along the Line of Control (LoC). In In ...

, and was promoted to major on 15 December 2000. As part of his career in the

, he served in Jammu and Kashmir, where he participated in counter-terrorist operations. His regiment was awarded the Army Chief's Citation and the Governor of J&K's Citation for exemplary work. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel on 16 December 2004, and to his final rank of colonel on 1 May 2009.

Sports career

At the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Manchester, England, ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, Rathore won a gold medal and set a new Commonwealth Games Record of 192 targets out of 200, which still stands. He also won the Team Gold Medal along with Moraad Ali Khan. Rathore went on to successfully defend his Commonwealth Champion title by winning the gold medal at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006. He also won the silver in the Team event with Vikram Bhatnagar. He won gold medals in two

World Shooting Championships The ISSF World Shooting Championships are governed by the International Shooting Sport Federation. World Shooting Championships began in 1897, after the successful Shooting at the 1896 Summer Olympics, 1896 Summer Olympics, and although the ISSF w ...

, at Sydney in 2004 and Cairo in 2006. In addition to these achievements, Rathore won a gold medal at the Olympic Games, a bronze medal at the World Championships, a bronze medal at the World Cup Final, and two gold medals and a bronze medal at the World Cup. He also secured five gold medals and a bronze medal at the Asian Championships and a bronze medal at the Asian Games. Altogether, Rathore has amassed a total of 13 medals in his sports career. Rathore rose to prominence when he won the silver at the 2004 Athens Olympics. It was India's first ever individual silver at the Olympics. In 2006, Rathore won a bronze medal in the World Championship in Spain, an event held for the top 12 shooters of the world. He was ranked third in the world for the most of 2003 and 2004 and briefly climbed to the first in early 2004 and second after the Athens Olympics. He won a silver at the World Championship in 2003 in Sydney for India after a gap of nearly 40 years. India had not seen a victory since Karni Singh of Bikaner, who won a silver at the 1962 World shooting Championship in Cairo. Rathore is credited with winning the Asian Clay Target gold medal four times in a row from 2003 to 2006. He also holds an Individual bronze medal which was at the Asian Games 2006 in Doha. Between 2002 and 2006 he won 25 international medals at various championships for Double Trap. In 2011, Rathore participated in the Asian Clay Target Championship in Kuala Lumpur and won gold. His score of 194 in that tournament equals world record.

Political career

On 10 September 2013, Rathore joined

after taking retirement from the

. He was elected as an MP in the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Jaipur Rural constituency. On 9 November 2014, he was sworn-in as the

for Information & Broadcasting, under the

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

. He was appointed the Minister of Sports on 3 September 2017. In May 2018, he became Minister of State (I/C) for Information & Broadcasting. In the

2019 Indian general election General elections were held in India in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to elect the members of the 17th Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the result was declared on 23 May. Around 912 million people were eligible to vote, and vote ...

, he retained the Jaipur Rural seat by over 3.93 lakh votes and was elected to the Lok Sabha for the second time. In November 2023, Rathore contested from Jhotwara Assembly constituency for the 2023 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election. He defeated Abhishek Chaudhary of the INC by 50,167 votes. After winning the elections, Rathore resigned from Lok Sabha. On 30 December 2023, he took oath as a cabinet minister in the Government of Rajasthan.

Awards and recognitions

* 2005 –

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

* 20042005 – the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award (Highest Sporting Honour of India). * 20032004 –

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjun ...

* ''

Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM, ) is a military award of India given to recognize "distinguished service of an exceptional order" to all ranks of the armed forces. The award is a peacetime equivalent of Uttam Yuddh Seva Medal, which is a Wartime D ...

'' (AVSM), military award for exceptional service, presented by the President of India on behalf of the Government of India. * Rathore was the chosen flag bearer for

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

during the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. * Rathore was the chosen flag bearer for

during the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

* 1990 – the Sword of Honour (For the Best All Round Officer Cadet at the Indian Military Academy). * 1990 – the Sikh Regiment Gold Medal (For the Best Sportsmen at the Indian Military Academy). * 1989 – the "Blazer" (Highest sports award at the National Defence Academy, Pune, India).

Military awards

References

External links

*
"Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore"
No 55 on ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

s list of "100 Olympic Athletes To Watch"
Weblog maintained by Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore for the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore Images & Videos
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rathore, Rajyavardhan Singh 1970 births Living people Indian male sport shooters Olympic shooters for India Olympic silver medalists for India Commonwealth Games gold medallists for India Rajasthani people Shooters at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Shooters at the 2004 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2008 Summer Olympics Recipients of the Khel Ratna Award Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Sport shooters from Rajasthan Indian Army officers Trap and double trap shooters Recipients of the Arjuna Award People from Jaisalmer district Olympic medalists in shooting Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Asian Games medalists in shooting Shooters at the 1998 Asian Games Shooters at the 2002 Asian Games Shooters at the 2006 Asian Games India MPs 2014–2019 Lok Sabha members from Rajasthan Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Rajasthan Narendra Modi ministry Asian Games silver medalists for India Asian Games bronze medalists for India Commonwealth Games silver medallists for India People from Jaisalmer Indian sportsperson-politicians Commonwealth Games gold medallists in shooting Commonwealth Games silver medallists in shooting National Defence Academy (India) alumni Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games India MPs 2019–2024 Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Rajasthan MLAs 2023–2028