The story till thenIndia sent its biggest shooting contingent to an Olympic Games in Athens 2004. Eight direct qualifications, instead of the three sent to Sydney in 2000, which had included two hardship wildcards. Of these the most invisible performer among them was Major Rajyavardhan Rathore, a serving army officer from the Nine Grenadiers who went about his Olympic campaign like it were a military mission. For the previous two years, he had spent no more than four months with his family as he trained and competed on sports ministry grants, which he earned by personally filling out government forms in quadruplicate. In the 18 months before Athens, he made the finals in every event he competed in, winning a bronze medal at the World Shotgun Championship in 2003 in Cyprus. When Athens arrived, he was ranked No. 3 in the world.The moment Out in an eastern Athenian suburb, Rathore was one of three Indians to make a 2004 Olympic final in four days, aware that the previous two, Anjali Bhagwat and Abhinav Bindra, had not bagged any medals. He was fifth of the six finalists, nine shots behind the leader, Ahmed Al Maktoum of the UAE, three behind the No. 2 finalist, Hakan Dahlby of Sweden. After three rounds of 50 shots each in the qualifiers, the final was one last round of 50 shots. Al Maktoum was very far ahead, but in the final round, Rathore was to come into his own. He soaked up the pressure, swallowing the lead of the rest of the finalists, scoring 44 out of 50. As other candidates fell aside, defeated by nerves, Rathores final two shots were to seal Indias first individual silver at the Olympics. While Maktoums Olympic record was being celebrated, the Indians at the Markopoulo Olympic Shooting Centre were to recognise in Rathores raised fist a sense of a mission completed.The reaction I may have appeared calm inside, but I was dying a thousand deaths out there. - Rajyavardhan RathoreExpert view Rathore changed me. His silver ensured that gold became my possibility. - Abhinav Bindra, Olympic shooting gold medallistThe story since Rathores silver medal led to a surge in shooting across the country, in national and international competitions. Within two years of his silver, India won its first World Shooting Championship titles in Zagreb 2006 - for Manavjit Singh Sandhu in trap shooting and Abhinav Bindra in the 10m air rifle. Rathore failed to make the shooting squad for the 2012 London Olympics. The following year he left the army to join active politics. He was elected MP for the Jaipur Rural constituency in 2014 and currently serves as minister for state for Information and Broadcasting. His son Manavaditya is now a competitive shooter, who won a trap gold in the International Junior Shotgun Cup held in Finland this May. Custom Soccer Jerseys China . Coach Tom Thibodeau says the former MVP will probably start travelling with the team in the next few weeks. Rose tore the meniscus in his right knee at Portland in November and was ruled out for the remainder of the season by the Bulls. Cheap Custom Soccer Jerseys . Howard Ganz, an MLB lawyer, said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos that Rodriguezs claims do not come "remotely close" to what is needed to overturn an arbitration decision in federal court. http://www.customjerseyssoccer.com/ . 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Great Britains dressage team won a silver medal in Deodoro on Friday.The quartet of reigning Olympic individual champion Charlotte Dujardin, Carl Hester, Fiona Bigwood and Spencer Wilton finished second behind Germany, who landed an eighth Olympic team gold medal in the last nine Games.They also reclaimed the crown from Britain, who triumphed in memorable fashion at London 2012, while the United States took bronze.Dujardin has now matched British cyclist Victoria Pendletons feat of winning two Olympic gold and one silver, and will go into next Mondays individual freestyle final as title favourite.German consistency shone through, with their three top riders on day three all posting scores of above 80 per cent. Dujardin and the brilliant Valregro were the sole British combination to manage that in both her team tests.In both elements on Thursday and Friday, Dujardin collected 14 maximum 10 scores, which augers well for the individual event in three days time.Dujardin holds Olympic, World and European team titles, in addition to all three dressage world records.The Germans, though, led by Kristina Broring-Sprehe, will be llining up to knock her off the sports summit, and it should be a spectacular freestyle showdown.ddddddddddddHester, riding Nip Tuck, Bigwood on Orthilia and Wilton, riding Super Nova II, all played their part, with Bigwood and Wilton enjoying memorable Olympic debuts.Reflecting on the result, Hester told Press Association Sport: We are very happy.Any medal we would have been very happy with because any Olympics produces a lot of nerves, different atmospheres and different rides.But the whole of the GB team has ridden beautifully. Everyone coped with the pressure, and the fact these horses have come halfway around the world and performed like that is testament to the grooms and support staff.My horse performed great today. I loved riding him. He was very genuine.Germany finished on a score of 81.936 per cent, with Britain on 78.595 and the United States 76.667.Dujardin, Hester and Bigwood, meanwhile, have qualified for the individual final, along with Irelands Judy Reynolds, riding Vancouver K. ' ' '