Olympic silver medallist Rajyavardhan Rathore appointed India's new sports minister

New Delhi: Athens Olympic silver medallist shooter Rajyavardhan Rathore replaced Vijay Goel as the new Sports Minister in the latest cabinet reshuffle of the Narendra Modi government on Sunday.

The 47-year-old Rathore was till now serving as minister of state for Information & Broadcasting.

Colonel Rathore first stepped in a shooting range in the mid 1990s and some years later, he became India's first ever individual silver medal winner at the Olympic Games.

He stood on the podium after finishing second in the men's double trap at the 2004 Athens Games.

Abhinav Bindra, who had bettered Rathore's Olympic feat with a first ever gold medal in 10m air rifle at Beijing Games, congratulated the minister.

"Delighted to see @Ra_THORe is the new sports minister. All the very very best!," Bindra wrote in his twitter handle.

Delighted to see @Ra_THORe is the new sports minister . All the very very best ! — Abhinav Bindra (@Abhinav_Bindra) September 3, 2017

#cabinetreshuffle two appointments i m really excited about...
1. @Ra_THORe as our Sports Minister
2. @nsitharaman as our Defence Minister — Heena SIDHU (@HeenaSidhu10) September 3, 2017

@Ra_THORe Congratulations sir  — Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) September 3, 2017

I wish to congratulate @Ra_THORe on your new new role and I wish you every success in your new duties.#CabinetReshuffle — Mary Kom (@MangteC) September 3, 2017

A year before he created Olympic history, Rathore had won a silver medal at the 2003 World Championships in Sydney.