Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday congratulated double trap shooter Major Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on becoming the first Indian to win a silver medal in an individual event at the Olympics.

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"You have done the armed forces proud and brought honour to India by your performance par excellence," Mukherjee said in a release in Delhi today.

Rathore, who served the army in the Kargil War, won the silver in double trap shooting with a score of 179 to bring India's first medal at the ongoing Athens Olympics Games.