Shooting sports in India


Shooting is an important Olympic sport in India. Of India's 26 Olympic medals, four have come from shooting, including a gold by Abhinav Bindra in the 2008 Olympics. Indian shooters who have excelled at international events include Abhinav Bindra, Jitu Rai, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Vijay Kumar, Gagan Narang, Apurvi Chandela, Ronjan Sodhi, Anjali Bhagwat, Heena Sidhu, Shreyasi Singh, Manu Bhaker, Anisa Sayyed, Rahi Sarnobat, Saurabh Chaudhary, Aprajita Singh.
Chandro Tomar aka Shooter Dadi and Prakashi Tomar aka Revolver Dadi, are the oldest and second oldest most acclaimed international female veteran shooters of India from the jat of Johri village of UP.

2012 Olympics

The Indian shooting contingent for the 2012 London was one of the largest to date. There were a total of 11 shooters including 4 female shooters. India's first medal in the 2012 Olympics was when Gagan Narang won the bronze in the 10m Air Rifle event. This was the same event in which Abhinav Bindra won India's first individual gold medal in the 2008 Summer Olympics Beijing. The second medal came from the unheralded army man Vijay Kumar when he won the silver in the 25m rapid fire pistol event after finishing 4th in the qualification rounds. He had to fend off some tough competition from the third placed Chinese Ding Feng.
A notable performance was made by Joydeep Karmakar who finished 4th in the 50m rifle prone event. A strong medal prospect Ronjan Sodhi who is an Asian Games gold medallist, however crashed out in the qualification rounds of the Double trap event.

Olympic medals

Administration

The sport is administered in India by The National Rifle Association of India. The association organises the following tournaments every year: