Date:06/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/06/stories/2008080662002300.htm

Sport - Shooting

Rathore’s class will tell

Kamesh Srinivasan

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore is easily the best India has. The silver medal won by him in double trap in the Athens Games has led to golden hopes.

The current form, though, of the 38-year-old Rathore may not be all that inspiring as he has not made the final of any of the international competitions recently. However, form is temporary and you can trust the Colonel to rise to the occasion at the crunch, in the Beijing Olympics.

Rathore, who won the Sydney World Cup before the last Olympics, was the winner in the Cairo World Cup while qualifying for the Beijing Games.

Of course, it was two years ago, a year in which he also won the Asian Championship gold in Singapore, the World Cup Final bronze in Granada and the Asian Games bronze in Doha.

“The competition is as stiff as ever. You don’t get any extra benefits for having won the Olympic medal. It is a fresh day and you have to be at your best, and hope it is better than the rest to help you strike again,” says Rathore.

The field is indeed fantastic. The Sydney Games gold medallist Richard Faulds of Britain is in top form as his No. 1 ranking portrays. He has been winning World Cups with record scores.

There are others like Hakan Dahlby of Sweden, Walton Eller of the U.S. and the defending champion Ahmed Almaktoum of the UAE, not to forget Hu Binuyan of China, who will be hoping to make it to the podium.

It is a travesty of justice that the 34th-ranked William Chetcuti of Malta got a wild card ahead of the fifth-ranked Ronjan Sodhi who won the last World Cup gold with two World records, but that puts the onus on Rathore to assert India’s supremacy in this event.

Rathore had finished 29th in the Beijing World Cup earlier this season with a 132 out of 150 in cold and blustery conditions.

Fighting qualities

Even then, he had shown his fighting qualities with an admirably improving sequence of 39, 44 and 49.

As the Chinese attempt to blow away the pollution from the atmosphere in Beijing during the Games, you can trust Rathore to blow life into Indian sports yet again.