Jitu Rai
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Indian shooter Jitu Rai was part of a regiment in the Indian Army before making his professional shooting debut, and initially found it difficult to meet selection criteria for the Army’s shooting squad.
2014 was a breakthrough year for Rai, who won a slew of medals that year across tournaments. At that year’s ISSF World Cup in Munich, Germany, Rai took silver in the men’s 10m air pistol event – and quickly followed that up with two medals at the ISSF World Cup in Maribor, Slovenia later that year – silver in the 50m pistol, and gold in his specialty – the 10m air pistol.
He first secured the World No. 1 ranking in the 10m air pistol discipline that year, and then went one better, winning gold at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea and at the Commonwealth Games – where he set the record for the Games with 562 points – both times in the 50m pistol, proving his prowess at each discipline.
Currently top-ranked in both, Rai won gold at the ISSF World Cup in Bangkok this year in the 50m pistol event, and despite recovering from a palm injury managed to trump former Olympic champion Pang Wei.
With his form this year and a stellar track record, Rai is a favourite for this year’s Olympic games.
