Abhinav Bindra - the golden man of india

Abhinav the golden boy of india,is from 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, he 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.
Abhinav, a BBA graduate hails from a sikh family with a bussiness background. 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.

HALL OF FAME

Bindra won six medals at various international meets in 2001. In the 10 m Air rifle event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, Manchester, 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 injuiry.

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.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Abhinav 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.[12] 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 Bronze medal.[13]

* 2001 - Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (India's highest sports award).

Olympic gold for india

India clinched its first ever individual Olympic gold medal in 108 years when Abhinav Bindra won the 10 meter air rifle event in one of the most pulsating shooting finals in the history of the world's biggest sporting extravaganza.

His first shot of the final a 10.7 saw him move to the third place and by the time he was preparing to shoot his fourth, the Indian had risen to the second spot.

A 10.6 on his seventh attempt earned Bindra the lead and in the deciding shot he got 10.8, way ahead of 10.5 by the Chinese and 9.7 by the Finn to bring India the first ever gold medal by an individual since the country first participated in Olympics in 1900.

Even though india got a gold, beijing olympics doesn't turn very good for india as most of the other shooters and players going out without qualifing for final itself.