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Did you know? Rahul Gandhi is national shooting champion, black belt in Aikido

Looks like Indian politician Rahul Gandhi could have made for a successful sporting star as well.

Did you know? Rahul Gandhi is national shooting champion, black belt in Aikido
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By

Sarah Waris

Published: 2 March 2020 12:00 PM GMT

Looks like Indian politician Rahul Gandhi could have made for a successful sporting star as well. The 49-year-old is a former National Shooting Champion, having bagged top honours in the 32nd edition of the competition in the 25 metre centre fire pistol event. Almost 32 years ago, the Gandhi scion had taken part in the event in New Delhi, shooting 271 of a possible 300 points to return with gold.

A certificate shared on Twitter further gives evidence of Gandhi’s skills as a professional shooter. The event was held in New Delhi from 26th December, 1988 to 5th January, 1989.

https://twitter.com/deepaknegi23/status/1233699878754299904?s=20

However, that is not the only sport that Gandhi has excelled in. A few years ago, at the 112th annual session of the PHD Annual Awards for Excellence in 2017, Gandhi also revealed that he was a black belt in Aikido, a Japanese martial arts form. In the same event, professional boxer and Olympic bronze medal winner Vijender Singh had asked Gandhi about the measures that he would undertake to make India into a sporting powerhouse.

Singh had added that, as a sports person, he had only seen politicians inaugurate sports events but had never seen them play. To this, Gandhi had stated that he was actively into sports and that it held a very important part in his life.

“Sports has always been important in my life. Normally I play sports for at least an hour. However, in the last few months I’ve not done it.”

Recently, a number of sports stars like Rajyavardhan Rathore (he served as the Union Sports Minister till May 2019), Gautam Gambhir, Saina Nehwal and Sandeep Singh have switched to politics, and it is hoped that they can contribute together to improve the facilities for the athletes in India

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