Shooter Abhinav Bindra won the first individual gold for India in Olmypics. Here is a profile of the sharp shooter who made the country proud.
Abhinav Bindra hails from Zirakpur, Mohali, Punjab and is the current World and Olympic champion in the 10 m Air Rifle event. By winning the gold in the 10 m Air Rifle event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the 1982 born shooter became the first Indian to win an individual gold medal at the Olympic Games and the first gold medal since 1980 when the Men's Field Hockey Team won the gold.
Early years
Abhinav Bindra comes from an affluent (Khatri) sikh family. His parents, Dr. Apjit and Babli Bindra, are promoters of the Hitech Group of companies. The group has a turnover of Rs. 300 crores (US $75 million) with interests in agro and dogfood-processing, computer gaming, livestock genetics and pharmaceuticals.
Bindra has one sister - Divya, a fashion designer, married into the family that owns Atlas Cycles(Haryana).
Bindra studied at the Doon school, Dehradun and later at St. Stephens School, Chandigarh. He earned his BBA from the University of Colorado.
Career
Bindra's potential talent was first spotted by his first coach Lt. Col. J.S. Dhillon. Bindra was the youngest Indian participant at the 2000 Olympic Games. His current coach is Gabriela Buhlmann from Basel, Switzerland, with whom he trained in Germany before the Olympics He scored 590 (98,99,98,97,100) placing him 11th in the qualification round, and did not qualify for the finals since only the top 8 compete in the finals.
International performance
Bindra won six medals at various international meets in 2001. In the 10 m Air rifle event at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games, he won Gold in the Pairs event and Silver in the individual event. At the 2004 Olympic Games, he scored 597 in the qualification round and was placed third behind Qinan Zhu (599 - Olympic Record) and Li Jie (598). In the finals, Abhinav finished with 97.6 points, last in the field of eight and was the only player below 100 points. His sub-par finals dropped him from third to seventh. At the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, he won the Gold in the Pairs event and the Bronze in the Singles event. Abhinav missed the 2006 Asian Games at Doha because of a back injury.
2008 Beijing Olympics
Bindra booked his place in the 2008 Olympics by winning the gold medal at the 2006 ISSF World Shooting Championships with a score of 699.1. Bindra won the gold for the Men's 10m Air Rifle final after shooting a total of 700.5. He scored 596 (fourth) in the qualifying round and out-scored all other shooters in the finals with a round of 104.5. In the finals, he started with a shot of 10.7, and none of his shots were below 10.0. Bindra was tied with Henri Häkkinen heading into his final shot. Bindra scored his highest of the finals - 10.8 while Hakkinen came with 9.7 to settle for the Bronze medal.
This was India's first individual gold medal at the Olympics, and the first gold in 28 years, since the Men's Field Hockey team won the gold at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Bindra was rewarded by various Indian state governments and private organizations for his achievement.
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