Athens Olympic silver medalist shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has been appointed the new sports minister in place of Vijay Goel who has been made the minister of state for parliamentary affairs. The change was made during the major cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The silver medalist till now was serving as minister of state for information and broadcasting. Rajyavardhan becomes the first sportsperson to head the Sports Ministry.
The 47-year-old Rathore won silver in the double trap shooting event during the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. He also won multiple gold and silver medals during the Commonwealth and Asian Games.
Twitter welcomed the moved with former Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra wishing him ‘All the best’ and also coined the decision as delightful.
Rajyavardhan's experience in the field of sports can prove vital, with Prime Minister Modi also saying that Sports remains a strong focus for his government.
Rathore joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2013 and was sworn in as minister of state for information & broadcasting when the Modi government came to power in May 2014.
Ministers of Youth Affairs and Sports
Mamata Banerjee (1991 – 1993)
Uma Bharti (7 November 2000 – 25 August 2002)
Sunil Dutt (2004 – 2005)[25]
Mani Shankar Aiyar (2005 – 2009)
M. S. Gill (28 May 2009 – 18 January 2011)
Ajay Maken (19 January 2011 – 28 October 2012)
Jitendra Singh (29 October 2012 – 25 May 2014)
Sarbananda Sonowal (20 May 2014 – 23 May 2016)
Jitendra Singh (23 May 2016 - 5 July 2016)
Vijay Goel (5 July 2016 – present)