The tally of medals earned by Rajkumari in rifle shooting is really impressive. In all she has won 104 medals, which include 43 gold, 32 silver and 29 bronze. And above all, she is an Arjuna Awardee
“Our biggest competition is never the others. Instead, it is always ourselves. It doesn’t matter if we end up with first or last place. If we do our best to do better than before, then we’ve won.”
—Clint Cora
Rajkumari Rathore with Former President Pranab MukherjeeThe daughter of a civilian driver in Infantry School, Mhow (MP) she used to hear the shots being fired at the nearby Army firing range. She caught a fancy for rifle shooting, but it was not easy for her to reach there. Her father decided to make way for her. While she was studying in VII grade, she got an opportunity to participate in the summer camp, as a part of the infantry kid’s team. The accuracy of her shots got her a place in the junior team, and she was chosen for one week’s training to hone her shooting skills.
The young girl has now grown up and become a celebrity. Join your hands together for Ms. Rajkumari Rathore, who received the coveted Arjuna Award from the President on 30 August 2013. The award is given to sportspersons, who not only have a good performance, consistently for three years at the international level, with excellence for the year in which the award is recommended, but should also have shown qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, and a sense of discipline. The award carries a cash prize of rupees five lakhs, a bronze statuette of Arjuna and a scroll. It is for the first time that an Academy player from Madhya Pradesh has won the Arjuna Award.
“Don’t heed to people who ridicule you, just have faith in yourself, and remain focused on your goal”
—Rajkumari Rathore
It has been a long journey from a member of the Infantry kids’ team to an Arjun Award winner in rifle shooting. Hailing from Harsola village near Mhow, where early marriage was prevalent in 1990s, her relatives and friends ridiculed her and taunted her parents for letting her participate in rifle shooting, which was unheard of for girls. Rajkumari counts Col. M.S. Chauhan as one of her mentors, who encouraged her and counselled her parents not to get her married early.
The tally of medals earned by Rajkumari is really impressive. She won the gold and silver medals in the Commonwealth Games in 2002, bronze medal in the World Championship 2002, three silver medals in National Games 2011, one gold and a bronze medal in the XII Asian Games Shooting Championship Doha, to name just a few. She has participated in three World Cup tournaments in London, Milan and Munich. In all she won 104 medals which include 43 gold, 32 silver and 29 bronze—a rare feat indeed!
After her marriage in 2007, Rajkumari has now settled down in Dhar (MP) and is a proud mother of a four-year-old daughter. When asked to give a message for the upcoming sportsmen, she said, “Don’t heed to people who ridicule you, just have faith in yourself, and remain focused on your goal,” Rajkumari is not going to rest on her laurels, she has already set her eyes on the next Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and of course Olympics, for which she is training hard with all her might. There is no doubt that she will realize her dreams.
(The above success story is based on the interview of Rajkumari Rathore by Maj. Pradeep Khare.)
And is featured in “Real Inspiring Stories” ISBN 978-81-8430-290-5 by Maj. Pradeep Khare (pradeepkhare2011@gmail.com). It is published by Prabhat Publications, New Delhi.
by Maj. Pradeep Khare
