Vijay Kumar Biography

Vijay Kumar born 19th August 1985, is an Indian sports shooter and is from Barsar village of Hamirpur district, Himachal Pradesh. He is currently serving as Hon. Captain (Subedar Major) in the Dogra Regiment (16th Battalion) Indian Army and has been posted at the Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU) at Mhow in Indore District, Madhya Pradesh where he is coached by Pavel Smirnov. In 2007, he received an Arjuna Award in the sport of shooting. At the 2012 London Olympics, Vijay Kumar earned a silver medal in the 25m rapid fire pistol event and is currently supported by the Olympic Gold Quest initiative.

In 2006, Vijay Kumar won a gold medal in the individual 25m rapid fire pistol competition and a gold medal in the pairs’ 25m rapid fire pistol competition along with Pemba Tamang at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. In the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, Vijay finished fourth but got a bronze medal because of a rule that disallowed China from getting all three medals. In 2007, he won a silver medal in 25m center-fire pistol event at the Asian Championship. In the 2009 ISSF World Cup held in Beijing, he was defeated by 0.1 points by Keith Sanderson and won a silver medal in the 25m rapid fire pistol event.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games, held in Delhi proved to be very grand for him as he gave a stunning performance winning three gold medals and one silver medal. The first gold medal was in the Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol pairs where Vijay Kumar and Gurpreet Singh scored 1162 points setting a new Commonwealth games record. The second gold medal was in the Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol singles and the third gold medal was in the Men’s 25m centre fire pistol pairs along with Harpreet Singh. He won a silver medal in the Men’s 25m centre fire pistol singles with a score of 574 and the Gold was won by Harpreet Singh with a score of 580.

In the 2012 London Olympics, Vijay Kumar succeeded in winning a Silver Medal in the 25 m rapid fire pistol event. This was his first Olympics and he got India its second individual Silver medal in any Olympics and the second medal for the 2012 Olympics. Upon his success at the 2012 Olympics, the Himachal Pradesh government awarded his achievement with the “Himachal Gaurav Award”, a cash prize of 1 crore rupees and a residential plot in Solan District, Himachal Pradesh. He also got a SIA officer’s rank which is equivalent to that of an IAS. He expressed his desire to be promoted in the army along with the special rank presented to him by the Sports Minister.

He has been awarded Padma Shri and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal by the Govt of India.