Few Indians wore so many sporting hats so effortlessly as Raja Randhir Singh
Born in Patiala on October 18, 1946, he belonged to a family where sport was an inheritance. His uncle, Maharaja Yadavindra Singh, played Test cricket for India; his father, Raja Bhalindra Singh, also played first-class cricket for Cambridge and was an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member from 1947 to 1992. Randhir, who graduated from Delhi’s St Stephen’s College, made shooting his arena. Randhir was among India’s earliest international regulars. He represented India at five Olympics — Mexico 1968, Munich 1972, Montreal 1976, Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984 — after being a reserve shooter at Tokyo 1964. His finest hour came at the 1978 Bangkok Asian Games, where he won trap gold, becoming the first Indian shooter to win an Asian Games gold medal. Years later, Randhir recalled the closing moments of that Bangkok final with amusement. He had built such a commanding lead that members of the Indian contingent and reporters began celebrating before the event was over. The noise distracted him, he missed a target, and he snapped at them: “Keep quiet. Let …
