Rajput, representing Haryana, shot a solid 1176 to top qualification before a sublime 459.6 to seal gold, while Maharashtra's Rahi shot 41 in the final to dominate Manu Bhaker, who shot 32 for the silver.
India's 14-year-old shooter Naamya Kapoor fired her way to the gold medal, ahead of celebrated compatriot Manu Bhaker, in the women's 25m pistol event at the ISSF Junior world Championship, in Lima, on Monday.
The Prime Minister termed the athletes as "India's soldiers of 2036 Olympics".
Check out the Indian athletes' schedule at the Games on Tuesday, July 27.
India will send 117 athletes to the Paris Olympics, starting July 26 in the French capital. This will be India's second-biggest contingent at an Olympic Games after 121 athletes went to Tokyo in 2021. A total of 47 female and 70 male athletes will be part of the Indian contingent at the Games.
'We used to give these boxers a hammering in the ring and now they are teaching youngsters how to defend. Come on man!' 'People like Akhil Kumar and Jitender Kumar were among the top boxers in the world, but instead of choosing them to train young boxers they are picking people who are yes men.'
His stunning monster throw of 89.34 metres in the qualification round made quite a statement, but a tough challenge awaits defending champion Neeraj Chopra as he seeks another piece of history in the Paris Olympics men's javelin throw final round in Paris on Thursday.
Check out how India's athletes fared on Day 6, Thursday, August 1, 2024:
In the ranking match 1, Bhaker qualified for the medal round as the third qualifier with an aggregate for 14 points, along with Germany's Doreen Vennekamp (14 points), while Esha was eliminated.
A broken prosthetic leg just 15 minutes before the start of a domestic competition taught Rudransh another lesson in life -- to be ready with a tool-kit to promptly repair the contraption.
Shocked at the way Lakshya Sen succumbed to pressure in the men's singles badminton bronze medal play-off at the Paris Olympics, the legendary Prakash Padukone said it's high time players learn to withstand pressure, become accountable and start delivering results after receiving support.
There was a phase in Paris Olympic medallist Sarabjot Singh's career when he was not able to lift his pistol even once last year.
Para shooter Rubina Francis lights up India's day with bronze at Paris Paralympics on Saturday.
A look at how India's athletes fared on Day 3, Monday, July 29, 2024:
India opened their campaign with two medals at the ISSF Pistol/Rifle World Cup in Bhopal on Wednesday.
Bindra admitted that hopes will be high on the Indian shooting contingent in Paris after having notched up seven medals - India's best-ever tally - at the Tokyo Olympics.
The team will be accompanied by six coaches -- Deepali Deshpande, Samaresh Jung, Manoj Kumar, DS Chandel, Ronak Pandit and Ved Prakash -- and two physios.
The 18-year old pistol shooter, who was one of India's medal hopefuls in Tokyo Olympics, was disappointed at the postponement of the Summer Games.
"Health and safety of Shooters/Coaches was paramount in the review of the decision. NRAI will announce a new schedule at a later date."
Check out how India's athletes fared on Day 10, Monday, August 5, 2024:
India's schedule on Day 4 of the Asian Games on Wednesday, September 27.
French organisers turned Paris into an open-air Olympic playground where everyone was invited, with or without a ticket.
Legendary pistol marksman and Manu Bhaker's personal coach Jaspal Rana on Thursday claimed he was asked to leave the Karni Singh shooting range in New Delhi by India's high performance director Pierre Beauchamp, kicking off a controversy in which the national federation appeared to be siding with the Canadian.
Shooters' preps lacked planning, says Olympian Vijay Kumar
The duo finished seventh in Qualification 2 after topping the first phase with 582 at the Asaka Range.
The 19-year-old Bhaker, ranked No. 2, was pegged back by a technical glitch involving her gun after an impressive start saw her take one of the places in the top eight.
India's ace shooter Manu Bhaker on Tuesday received her first dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a government hospital in Jhajjar, Haryana, three months before the Tokyo Olympics where she will enter as one of India's brightest medal hopes.
Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday asserted that the Indian contingent will win a record number of medals in the upcoming Asian Games in Huangzhou, China.
Goa will host the biggest-ever National Games from October 26 to November 9.
The IOA had also urged five Olympic-bound sportspersons, who have recovered from COVID-19 in the recent past, to take their first dose of the vaccine as soon as possible.
The 20-year-old Rhythm, who hails from Haryana and was a part of the team that won the 25m sports pistol gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year along with Esha and Manu Bhaker, shot 28 in the final to settle for bronze.
India's shooter Rahi Sarnobat claimed the silver medal after enduring a weapon malfunction in the women's 25m pistol event of the President's Cup in Wroclaw, Poland on Tuesday.
Three years ago, India returned from Tokyo with seven medals, and it is only natural that a double-digit performance is now desired in Paris.
India's schedule at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, on Tuesday, September 26.
The onus will be on Manu Bhaker, Yashaswini Singh Deswal in women's 10m air pistol, and the men's 10m air rifle duo of Divyansh Singh Panwar and Deepak Kumar to bring India success on the second day of shooting event at Tokyo Olympics on Saturday.
After letting her pistol do all the talking, Manu Bhaker spoke little, but enough to express her joy at winning the 10 metres Air pistol gold at the Commonwealth Games.
A day before the Tokyo-bound Indian shooting contingent hits the range for its first training session in Croatia, Manu Bhaker's pistol will give way to a pen and the shooting gear to her study materials, as she logs in for her BA fourth semester exam.
'They are just making me the scapegoat after what happened in Tokyo. They can't just pass the buck to me for Manu Bhaker's failure. What were the coaches doing in Tokyo? I was not there with them at the Olympics.'
India registered a no-medal day for the first time in the tournament. Even though Rhythm topped qualification with her 595, teammates Esha Singh and Manu shot 582 and 578 respectively to finish at 13th and 27th positions.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medal winners, hailing from Haryana, will get Rs 1.5 crore from the state government.
