NEW DELHI (AFP) — Ace double-trap shooter Rajyavardhan Rathore will carry India's flag during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games, the country's Olympic association said Monday.
Rathore, India's first-ever Olympic individual silver medallist, will lead the 57-member contingent from his country, Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi said in a statement.
Rathore is part of the nine-member Indian shooting team, which has two reigning world champions in its ranks: Manavjit Singh Sandhu (trap) and Abhinav Bindra (10m air rifle).
Rathore's form has dipped in recent months, but the world number 23 is expected to turn things around at the Games.
India, a fast-growing economy with ambitions to host the Olympics, has won a total of four individual medals at the Games, the first one a bronze by wrestler Khasaba Jadhav in Helsinki in 1952.
The last three Games produced a medal each, with tennis star Leander Paes winning a bronze at Atlanta in 1996, women's weightlifter Karnam Malleswari a bronze in Sydney four years later, and Rathore a silver at Athens in 2004.
"Our shooters are on the top of the list and they are raring to go," Kalmadi said at a press conference last week.
The 15 shooting events begin on August 9, a day after the opening ceremony.
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