Knowing your Indian Olympians

Continuing the names and faces posts: (without the faces - it is taking too long - so skipping them for now)

The Shooting Stars:

• Sanjeev Rajput (50 m Rifle 3 Positions Men): This 22 year old navy man is a son of Krishan Lal Rajput who earns his livelihood by selling food items on roadside in Jagadhri! He won the bronze medal in the Men's 50m Rifle Prone at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. These are the stories that give me hope that if given the right infrastructure and support, the future Olympics will be good for India. More info
  

• Abhinav Bindra (10 m Air Rifle Men): At 25, already a 2 time Olympian, an arjuna award winner, a Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award winner. He broke the Olympic record in 2004 but failed to win a medal but has won several medals in other meets. He is an MBA, has won tons of medals - and is going to blog during the olympics. He is supported by the Mittal trust.
  

• Gagan Narang (10 m Air Rifle Men): Supported by the Olympic Gold Quest foundation of Geet Seethi and Prakash Padukone, Gagan is a 25 year old based in Hyderabad who has won several medals in the past. He has been the world number one as well and is a computer science graduate and an arjuna award winner.
  

• Samaresh Jung (10 m Air Pistol Men): A son of an army colonel, Jung is a 38 year old Arjuna award winner, winner of 5 golds at the commonwealth games. His wife is a shooter as well. He missed on a record tying 6 medals in one event...

• Manavjit Singh Sandhu (Trap Men): Last year's Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award winner, the nation's highest sports award, Sandhu is also a shooter supported by the Mittal trust. Hailing from Punjab, the 32 year old shooter is someone whose exceptional performance was the reason that Dravid did not get the Khel Ratna award. While his current form has not been the best, hopefully he can recover the form just in time for Beijing.
  

• Mansher Singh (Trap Men): Heading to his 4th Olympics, he competes in the same category as Sandhu. He is an arjuna award winner, and despite this being his 4th trip, he does not have a profile on wiki and I cannot find more about him :-)

• Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (Double Trap Men): Yes we know, our only Olympic medal from 2004 athens, awarded the Khel Ratna award for 2004-2005, this Lt. Colonel in the army has other awards as well (he was a major when he won the silver wasn't he?). He is also a recipient of the Padma Shri and the Ati Vishisht seva medal. He will be the flag bearer for India at the Olympics.
  

• Anjali Bhagwat (50 m Rifle 3 Positions Women): Anjali, one of the 2 women representing Indian in shooting, is another Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award winner (2002). Shooting seems to be dominating the Khel Ratna awards! This mumbai shooter who went to the Sydney Olympics as well has her own official website. She is supported by the Mittal trust as well.

• Avneet Kaur Sidhu (10 m Air Rifle Women): A medalist at the commonwealth games and asian games, she hails from Bathinda in Punjab. An article about this athlete is here. She seems to have taken shooting as a hobby initially.

With some of the shooting squad being supported by trusts, with Rathore paving the way in Athens, with the shooters out numbering the cricketers in the national sporting honour, shooting looks like a promising chance of a medal or two. Just aim and shoot - (Kodak/Konica sponsors?)