More than one billion people will be focused on a very special sportsman today. And he is not Chinese.
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, the Athens silver medalist, hopes to emulate fellow Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra, who won gold in first Olympic win in the individual 10-m air rifle yesterday.
The 38-year-old colonel took home the first individual Olympic silver four years ago in Athens.
His achievements and his potential firepower at the Beijing Games were recognized by Time magazine, which listed him as one of the '100 Olympic Athletes to Watch'.
Indian shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore wants more for India in Bejing Games. [Agencies] |
He was the only Indian athlete on the list, which also includes superstars such as US basketball player LeBorn James, Chinese diver Guo Jingjing, Jamaica's Asafa Powell and Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice.
"The (silver) medal did bring me some fame in India. I guess I'm more popular than before I just want to do my best for my country now, nothing for myself personally," he told the Olympic News Service before the Games in Beijing.
Friends and family describe the sharp shooter as a soft-spoken and down to earth man, who was given the nickname 'Chilly' as a boy. He was a good cricket player but his mother discouraged his typical Indian passion for the game because she feared he would ignore his school book. Rathore heeded his mother's wishes and qualified for the army, in which he picked up a rifle for the first time.
A military career proved very successful and he quickly rose up the ranks.
Major Rathore received the Sword of Honour from Indian Military Academy in 1990 and fought against separatist militants in the Kargil War 1999.
But the father-of-two only took up competitive shooting in 1998 just after his marriage to an army doctor. He got the chance to compete in the Olympics after winning a bronze medal at the World Championship in Cyprus.
He has also been guided in career by Atlanta Olympic gold medalist Russell Mark of Australia.
But like Chinese shooter and gold medal hopeful Du Li painfully discovered, an Olympic favorite can never take a gold medal for granted.
His major opponents include world No 1 Hakan Dahlby from Sweden, defending Olympic champion Al Maktoum of the United Arab Emirates, Sydney Olympic gold medalist Richard Fauld from Britain and Chinese Olympic debutant Hu Binyuan.
The Swedish athlete finished fifth in Athens but has improved in recent years, winning a World Cup Final in 2005 and several World Cup medals in 2006 and 2007.
Chinese shooter Hu is also a strong title contender. The world No 2 finished fourth in Athens and claimed two silvers in the 2006 and 2007 World Championships.
In the men's 50m pistol, Russian sharpshooter Mikhail Nestruev will be shooting for his second straight Olympic title today. He will come up against world No 1 Joao Costa of Portugal and two Koreans -- Athens silver medalist Jin Jong-oh of the Republic of Korea and bronze medalist Kim Jong-su of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Also competing in the men's 50m pistol is China's 37-year-old Tan Zongliang, the fourth time Olympian.
Tan, the 2006 World Championships gold medalist will chase medals at the 50-meter pistol event, the discipline that brought China the first-ever Olympic gold in 1984.
Standing behind the shooter will be Lin Zhongzai, 27, champion in the discipline at the 2007 World Cup Final who also harvested three World Cup gold medals in the event.
Xinhua contributes to the story