20 February,2012 10:34 AM IST | | IANS
There was no place for 2004 Athens Games silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore in the 11-member shooting squad for the 2012 London Olympics that was announced by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) here yesterday.
Joydeep Karmakar and Heena Sidhu made the cut at the expense of Hariom Singh and Imran Hasan Khan, who were the only two shooters to be dropped despite booking Olympic quotas. Rathore, a double trap exponent, however, was kept as a back-up.
Abhinav Bindra, India's first individual Olympic champion, and 2010 CWG star shooter Gagan Narang were the automatic choices while Shagun Chowdhury will be the first Indian woman trap shooter to participate in Olympic Games.