Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, AVSM, (born 29 January 1970) is an Indian politician, Olympic medallist in shooting and retired colonel in the Indian Army. He is serving as a cabinet minister at the Industry & Commerce, Youth Affairs & Sports Department in the Government of Rajasthan since December 2023. Rathore was a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha from Jaipur Rural seat since 2014 till 2023.

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Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore AVSM
Cabinet Minister Government of Rajasthan
Incumbent
Assumed office 30 December 2023
Governor	Kalraj Mishra
Chief Minister	Bhajan Lal Sharma
Ministry and Departments	Industry and Commerce Information Technology and Communication Youth Affairs and Sports Skill Planning and Entrepreneurship Sainik Welfare
Preceded by	Shakuntala Rawat
Member of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 December 2023 (2023-12-03)
Preceded by	Lalchand Kataria
Constituency	Jhotwara
Majority	147,913 (47.75%)
Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs and Sports
In office 3 September 2017 – 30 May 2019
Prime Minister	Narendra Modi
Preceded by	Vijay Goel
Succeeded by	Kiren Rijiju
Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Information and Broadcasting
In office 9 November 2014 – 24 May 2018
Minister of Information and Broadcasting
In office 24 May 2018 - 6 December 2023 – 24 May 2019
Prime Minister	Narendra Modi
Preceded by	Smriti Irani
Succeeded by	Prakash Javadekar
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office 16 May 2014 (2014-05-16) – 6 December 2023 (2023-12-06)
Preceded by	Lalchand Kataria
Succeeded by	Vacant
Constituency	Jaipur Rural
Majority	332,896 (32.84%)
Personal details
Born	(1970-01-29) 29 January 1970 (age 54) Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party
Spouse	Gayatri Rathore ​ (m. 1997)​ [1]
Children	2
Alma mater	National Defence Academy, Pune Indian Military Academy, Dehradun
Military service
Allegiance	India
Branch/service	Indian Army
Years of service	1990 – 2013
Rank	Colonel
Unit	9th Grenadiers
Battles/wars	Kargil War, CI/CT operations in J&K [2]
Awards	Padma Shri Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Khel Ratna Award
Sports career
Sport	Shooting
Event	Double trap
Medal record Men's shooting[3] Representing  India Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games – 1 – Commonwealth Games 3 1 – Asian Games - 1 1 World Shotgun Championship - - 1 ISSF World Shooting Championship 1 1 2 Asian Clay Target Championship 5 - - Total 9 4 4 Olympic Games 2004 Athens Double trap Commonwealth Games 2002 Manchester Double trap individual 2002 Manchester Double trap pairs 2006 Melbourne Double trap individual 2006 Melbourne Double trap pairs Asian Games 2006 Doha Double trap teams 2006 Doha Double trap World Shotgun Championship 2003 Cyprus Double trap individual ISSF World Shooting Championship 2006 Granada Double trap individual 2004 Sydney Double trap individual 2006 Cairo Double trap individual 2003 New Delhi Double trap individual Asian Clay Target Championship 2003 New Delhi Double trap individual 2004 Bangkok Double trap individual 2005 Bangkok Double trap individual 2006 Singapore Double trap individual 2011 Kuala Lumpur Double trap individual
Minister of State 24 May 2018 – 24 May 2019: Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Information and Broadcasting 3 September 2017 – 24 May 2019:Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs and Sports 9 November 2014 – 24 May 2018: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting

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He won 25 international medals at various championships for Double Trap Shooting including a silver medal at 2004 Summer Olympics in Men's Double Trap event.^[4]

Rathore served as a commissioned officer in The Grenadiers regiment of the Indian Army before retiring in 2013 as a colonel. Following his retirement from the army and shooting, he became the member of the parliament for the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014.

In November 2014, was made the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting.^[5] Rathore served as a Cabinet minister with independent charge for Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports from 2017^[6] until 2019.^[7]

Rajyavardhan was born in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan to Colonel Lakshman Singh Rathore (Retd.), an Army Colonel of Garabdesar, Lunkaransar, Bikaner,^{[citation needed]} and Manju Raghav Bhondsi, a teacher,^[8][9] on 29 January 1970.^[10][11][12]

His educational qualifications include B.A., Instructor-Weapons (MMG, AGL, Small Arms), Grading Tactics (YO) Course. He was educated at the National Defence Academy, Pune and Infantry School, Mhow.^[10]

He married Maj. Gayatri Rathore (nee Kapkoti), hailing from Kapkot-Almora in Uttarakhand, on 16 February 1997. She served as a doctor by profession in the Indian Army. They have a son and a daughter.^[10][11][13]

Rathore is a graduate of the 77th Course of the National Defence Academy.^[14] After graduating from the NDA, Rathore attended the Indian Military Academy where he was awarded the Sword of Honor for the best all-round Gentleman Cadet. He was also the recipient of the Sikh Regiment Gold Medal, awarded to the best sportsman of the course.^[11]

He was later commissioned in the 9th Grenadiers (Mewar) Regiment on 15 December 1990. He was promoted to lieutenant on 15 December 1992 and to captain on 15 December 1995.^[15][16] Rathore fought in the Kargil War,^[2] and was promoted to major on 15 December 2000.^[17] As part of his career in the Indian Army, he served in Jammu and Kashmir, where he participated in counter-terrorist operations. His regiment was awarded the Army Chief's Citation and the Governor of J&K's Citation for exemplary work.^[11] He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel on 16 December 2004,^[18] and to his final rank of colonel on 1 May 2009.^[19]

At the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, Rathore won a gold medal and set a new Commonwealth Games Record of 192 targets out of 200, which still stands. He also won the Team Gold Medal along with Moraad Ali Khan. Rathore, went on to successfully defend his Commonwealth Champion title by winning the gold medal at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006. He also won the silver in the Team event with Vikram Bhatnagar. He won gold medals in two World Shooting Championships, at Sydney in 2004 and Cairo in 2006.

Rathore rose to prominence when he won the silver at the 2004 Athens Olympics. It was India's first ever individual silver at the Olympics.^[20][11]

In 2006, Rathore won a bronze medal in the World Championship in Spain, an event held for the top 12 shooters of the world. He was ranked third in the world for the most of 2003 and 2004 and briefly climbed to the first in early 2004 and second after the Athens Olympics. He won a silver at the World Championship in 2003 in Sydney for India after a gap of nearly 40 years.^[11] India had not seen a victory since Karni Singh of Bikaner, who won a silver at the 1962 World shooting Championship in Cairo. Rathore is credited with winning the Asian Clay Target gold medal four times in a row from 2003 to 2006. He also holds an Individual bronze medal which was at the Asian Games 2006 in Doha.

Between 2002 and 2006 he won 25 international medals at various championships for Double Trap.

In 2011, Rathore participated in the Asian Clay Target Championship in Kuala Lumpur and won gold. His score of 194 in that tournament equals world record.^[3]

On 10 September 2013, Rathore joined Bharatiya Janata Party after taking retirement from the Indian Army.^[21] He was elected as an MP in the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Jaipur Rural constituency.^[22] On 9 November 2014, he was sworn-in as the Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, under the Narendra Modi government.^[23] He was appointed the Minister of Sports on 3 September 2017. In May 2018, he became Minister of State (I/C) for Information & Broadcasting.^[11] In the 2019 Indian general election, he retained the Jaipur Rural seat by over 3.93 lakh votes and was elected to the Lok Sabha for the second time.^[24]

In November 2023, Rathore contested from Jhotwara Assembly constituency for the 2023 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election.^[25] He defeated Abhishek Chaudhary of the INC by 50,167 votes. After winning the elections,^[26] Rathore resigned from Lok Sabha.^[27] On 30 December 2023, he took oath as a cabinet minister in the Government of Rajasthan.^[28]

• 2005 – Padma Shri^[29]
• 2004–2005 – the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award (Highest Sporting Honour of India).
• 2003–2004 – Arjuna Award
• Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM), military award for exceptional service, presented by the President of India on behalf of the Government of India.
• Rathore was the chosen flag bearer for India during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.^[30]
• Rathore was the chosen flag bearer for India during the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia
• 1990 – the Sword of Honour (For the Best All Round Officer Cadet at the Indian Military Academy).
• 1990 – the Sikh Regiment Gold Medal (For the Best Sportsmen at the Indian Military Academy).
• 1989 – the "Blazer" (Highest sports award at the National Defence Academy, Pune, India).