Manavaditya Rathore: An Olympian in the making

The first Indian to win an Olympic shooting medal Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore might not be a part of another Olympic squad, but his 14-year-old son could well be. Going by how Manavaditya is continuously hitting the bulls eye, it wouldn't be surprising if he follows in his father's footsteps all the way to the Olympic podium.

In 2004 Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won the silver in the men's double trap event at the Athens Games, nine years later Manavaditya won the junior trap shooting title at the National Championships. The sport runs in the family and Manavaditya, nicknamed Milo, seems to be bang on target from a very early age.

He was picked in the junior national trap team earlier this year at a time when his father was part of the senior double trap team during the World Cup. Manavaditya won the silver medal at the junior international shotgun competition in Finland and a bronze at the Asian shotgun championship in Kazakhstan this year.

"He is obviously attracted to the game of shooting because since the time he was born he had shooters all around. Shooting comes naturally to him. I've never pushed him to take up the sport," said Rajyavardhan.

"We had a shooting range at home so I used to watch my Dad shoot. I use to ask him if I could shoot but he use to say that I was too small. But one day he gave me a gun on his own and I really liked it," said Milo.

Surprisingly, Manavaditya is not coached by his father. "It is very difficult to have a father-cum-coach relationship because the lines blur at times. It's more important that we have healthy relationship with each other," explains Rajyavardhan.