New Delhi, July 9 (IANS) Mankind's love for guns has ensured that shooting sport has been part of every single Games -- barring 1904 and 1928 -- since the birth of the modern Olympic movement in 1896 in Athens.

The sport, which started with military pistols and rifles, is today one of the most technical games on the Olympic curriculum with specialised, highly-sophisticated pistols, rifles and shotguns being used to assert superiority at ranges across the world.

Despite having royal patrons such as Maharaja Karni Singh of Bikaner -- who earned world fame with his exploits in shotgun shooting -- and former Indian Olympic Association secretary-general Randhir Singh of Patiala, India came to the party late.

First India took the Commonwealth Games by storm, winning nearly half of the 30 gold medals won at Manchester in 2002. Then came the Olympic silver in the 2004 Athens Olympics when Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore crowned himself in glory in double trap, an event which has now been discontinued at the Olympics.

The reticent Abhinav Bindra made Germany his permanent training base, and with a single-minded determination, first went on become the world champion in 10m air rifle, at Zagreb in Croatia in 2006, and two years later, at Beijing, became the first to clinch an individual gold for India at the Olympics.

Ever since, Indian shooting has become a force to reckon with and there are several current and former world record holders in the country.

While India may have won only four medals at the Olympics -- gold, silver and two bronze -- but every time the country's marksmen take aim at the showpiece event, they have nothing but bullseye in sight.

Here's a look at the sport of shooting over the years:

The shooting competition in the Tokyo Olympic Games will be held from July 24 to August 2, 2021 at the Asaka Shooting Range. Here is a look at the discipline:  
  
1896: Shooting was one of only nine disciplines at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens.   
  
1900: Live pigeons were used during the Games, but the practice was discontinued and pigeons were replaced with clay targets.   
  
1932: When the sport was reintroduced in 1932, it consisted of just two events. The number steadily increased until it reached a maximum of 17 at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics.  
  
15: The number of competitors India is sending to Tokyo, which is the highest ever by the country.  
  
110: The United States has won the maximum number of medals in shooting at the Olympics. This includes 54 gold, 29 silver and 27 bronze.  
  
34: India stands a distant 34th with four medals – one gold, two silver and a bronze.  
  
Mixed team competition is making its debut in Tokyo, where four Indian pairs – two in air rifle and two in air pistol – will compete for medals.  
  
15: Total gold medals on offer in Tokyo Olympics -- six each for men and women and three mixed 
 
66 nations have won medals in shooting competitios in Olympics so far 
 
817 : total medals won in the Olympic Games so far. This includes 273 gold, 273 silver and271 bronze medals