Qatar Open: Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore's son Manavaditya shoots silver

What's the story?

Manavaditya Singh Rathore missed out on the gold medal by a single point, as he clinched a silver medal in the junior men's trap event at the Qatar Open Shotgun meet, in Lusail, Qatar on Saturday.

In case you didn't know...

The 19-year-old shooter is the son of Indian shooting icon Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who had won silver at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and also happens to be the Sports Minister of India at the moment.

The heart of the matter

Manavaditya kept himself in the hunt for a podium finish early on, as he scored 23 in the initial series of 25 shots. He further improved his chances of winning the event, as he scored 24 out of 25 in the succeeding three series. However, the 19-year-old missed a couple of times in the last series, where he could only notch up a score of 23 from 25 shots.

This result meant that Rathore finished with 118 points in the bag, just one point behind Angelo Scalzone of Italy. Meanwhile, Germany's Jeremy Schulz came in third, with a score of 115 to his name.

Won a Silver medal at the Qatar Open Shotgun 2018 🇶🇦 pic.twitter.com/dHJHGPaLm4

— Manavaditya Rathore (@manavrathore_) February 17, 2018

There were a total of 11 shooters on the field, that also included the likes of James Dedman of Great Britain, who recently made the move from double trap to trap shooting.

What's next?

Rathore is just 19 years of age, and still has a long way to go in the world of shooting. In fact, he still has a couple of years left in the junior arena, before he can make the jump to the big stage.

Author's take

Being the son of Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, much is expected from Manavaditya. He has listed his father, the 2004 Athens Olympics silver medallist as his personal coach, which speaks volumes about his potential. Let's hope that, like his father, Manavaditya also brings more medals to India.