Abhinav Bindra's career started from the age of 15, when he was the youngest participant at the 1998 Commonwealth Games followed by the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where again he repeated the same feat. He won the Arjuna Award in 2000 and the Khel Ratna in 2001, after his consistent performances in International meets that year. At the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, he won a gold in the doubles event and silver in the individual. However, he returned empty handed from the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Bindra was down with a severe back injury which hampered his preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. However, after recovering he won a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup held in Zagreb in 2006. The biggest point in his shooting career came at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when he won the much-awaited gold medal for India. Abhinav Bindra is the only Olympic individual gold medalist in India.

He won a gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games partnering with Gagan Narang in the 10m air rifle event and also won a silver medal in the individual event. Unfortunately, he failed to make it through the qualification for the 2012 London Olympics. But, he bounced back at Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 where he won another gold in the 10m air rifle event. Bindra’s last shot at another Olympic medal came to an end when he finished fourth at the 2016 Rio games.

He was honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 2009 for his exceptional achievements in the field of sports.

Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won two gold medals at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester where he ended in pole at both single and double trap events. He secured a bronze medal at the 2003 Shotgun Championships in Cyprus. But, the best moment of his career came a year later, when he clinched silver at the 2004 Athens Olympics which was India’s only medal at the event. He was honoured with the Khel Ratna for his amazing feat.

He was in top form at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, where he won gold in the individual double trap event and silver in the doubles. He followed it up with another great performance at the Asian Games, where he clinched silver in the double trap team category and bronze in the individual event.

After his retirement, he joined the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and in 2014 took charge of the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry and later, the Sports Ministry. He was also honoured with the Padma Shri in 2005.

One of the best Indian shooters of all-time, Gagan Narang bagged a gold medal at the Afro-Asian Games in 2003 held in Hyderabad. He became a household name after winning four gold medals at the 2006 Commonwealth Games- two in the 10m air rifle event and two in the 50m 3-position event.

After bagging gold in China in the 2008 World Cup, he then qualified for the ISSF World Cup Final. Here in the qualification round he scored a perfect 600 and shot 103.5 in the final round making a total score of 703.5 to claim the world record.

He went on to win won four gold medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. In the 2010 Asian Games, he won a silver medal in an individual event and bagged another silver this time partnering the likes of Abhinav Bindra and Sanjeev Rajput in a team event. He was conferred with the Khel Ratna in 2011 and his career highlight came at the London Olympics, where Narang bagged the bronze medal in the 10m air rifle event.

Vijay is the son of a retired Indian Army subedar. Taking inspiration from his father, Vijay also joined the Indian Army and from there, his shooting career began. At the 2016 Commonwealth Games, he bagged two gold medals, one in the 25m rapid fire pistol discipline and another in doubles, where he was partnering Pemba Tamang. He followed it up with a bronze at the Asian Games in the same year. In the year 2006, he was honoured with the Arjuna Award.

In the 2010 Commonwealth Games, he bagged three gold medals and one silver spread across different events in the 25m rapid fire pistol discipline. However, he reached his career-high when he clinched silver at the 2012 London Olympics in the 25m rapid fire pistol event. He was one of the two silver medalists for India at the London Olympics.

Vijay was commemorated with the Khel Ratna and Padma Shri in 2013 to honour his performance at the London Olympics.

Jitu Rai was a Subedar Major in the 11 Gorkha Rifles of the Indian Army. In 2014, he won a gold medal in the 10m air rifle category and also won silver medals in the 10m air pistol and 50m pistol category at the ISSF World Cup. After achieving this incredible feat he became the first shooter from India to win two medals in a single World Cup. In total, he won three medals in nine days and his feat resulted in him getting the No. 1 rank in 10m air pistol in 2014.

In the same year, he won a silver medal at the 2014 Granada World Championships. But, he didnt stop at that and in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, he clinched a gold in the 50m pistol event. He also won a gold and bronze in the 50m pistol and 10m air pistol team category respectively at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

He further went on to win a gold at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and created a men’s record in the 10m air pistol with a total score of 235.1 points. He also bagged a bronze at the 2018 World Cup in Mexico. He was commemorated with the Khel Ratna in 2016, alongside Sakshi Malik.