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The greatest opportunity in any athlete's life is to represent their country at the Summer Olympics. The amount of pride and happiness felt in holding the country's flag at international games is inexpressible. The tag of "Olympian" being attached to an athlete's name is one of the greatest desires in the sports world.
Representing the country one time itself is a big opportunity but getting the chance to do so more than once is exceptional.
Let's have a look at Indian shooters who performed exceptionally well enough to reach the Olympics the most number of times.
# Anjali Bhagwat (10m Rifle)
Summer Olympic Appearances: 2000, 2004, 2008
Anjali Bhagwat is the pioneer of shooting for India at the Olympics. She was the first Indian shooter to reach the Olympic finals in the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics. She has been part of the 10m Rifle and 50m Rifle 3 position events at the Summer Olympics.
India is now an emerging nation in the sport of shooting, but back in the early 21st century, it was not a cakewalk for Indian shooters. But after beating all the odds, Anjali managed to reach the Summer Olympics and laid down the path for the young Indian Shooters.
# Mansher Singh (Trap)
Summer Olympic Appearances: 1984, 1996, 2004, 2008
Mansher Singh made his Summer Olympic debut at the age of 18. The four-time Olympian played his last match in the year 2008. In the 2008 Summer Olympic trap event, he finished at the 8th rank. Mansher is currently coaching the young shooters for the Tokyo Olympics.
# Manavjit Singh Sandhu (Trap)
Summer Olympic Apperances: 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016
The four-time Olympian, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, is also the former rank 1 Trap Shooter in the world.
Trap is a shooting event in which a clay disc is thrown into the air and the shooters are supposed to shoot down as many as possible within a certain time frame using a shotgun.
The Rajeev Gandhi Khel Ratna awardee holds the best Asian record of 124/125 in the trap event.
# Gagan Narang (10m Rfile)
Summer Olympic Apperances: 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016
Gagan Narang is a 10m Air Rifle Shooter who has not only represented the country four times in the Olympics but also managed to reach the podium in the year 2012. He won the bronze medal at the 2012 London Summer Olympics.
He was also part of the 50m Rifle 3 positions and 50M prone events at the Summer Olympics. For his achievements in the shooting arena, he was awarded the Padma Shree award in the year 2011.
# Abhinav Bindra
Summer Olympic Apperances: 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016
Abhinav Bindra is a legend in Indian shooting. While the whole world knows that he is the only individual Indian Olympic gold medalist, he was also the youngest Indian athlete at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
Winning the Olympic quota for the country is a lifetime achievement but the rifle shooter has been part of the Summer Olympics five times. He also achieved the 4th rank in his last Olympic match in the year 2016. He has been awarded many prestigious awards over the years for his splendid performances, including the highest honor by the ISSF, the blue cross.
Abhinav Bindra's journey from the 2000 Summer Olympics to the 2016 Olympics has been incredible. He is the only Indian Shooter who has appeared five times at the Olympics.
Notable Mentions
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (2)
Summer Olympics Appearances: 2004, 2008
Heena Sindhu (2)
Summer Olympics Appearances: 2012, 2016
Sanjeev Rajput (2)
Summer Olympics Appearances: 2012, 2016
*Footnote- () denotes the number of Summer Olympics appearances.
