Abhinav Bindra wins India's first ever solo Olympic gold
Monday, August 11, 2008
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Updated: Monday , August 11, 2008 at 02:54:16
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Beijing, August 11:
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.
The historic victory for the 25-year-old pro from
Chandigarh came against heavy odds as he entered the event ranked
number 17 in the world and pitted against Athens Olympic champion Zhu
Qinan of China and Henri Hakkinen of Finland rated much higher than
him.
But Bindra proved that reputation and history
counted little as he overcame a two-point deficit against Zhu and
Haikkinen after the qualifying round and annexed the title.
Bindra emerged triumphant in the 10-shot final
with a finish of 104.5, taking his tally of points to 700.5 as against
Zhu's silver winning performance of 699.7 (597+102.7) and 699.4
(598+101.4) by Hakkinen, which gave the Finn Army marksman the bronze.
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.
The businessman from Chandigarh also ended India's
wait for a gold since the hockey team fetched a yellow metal in the
Moscow Olympics in 1980.
"It can't better than this. Can it?" an elated but composed Bindra said soon after achieving the feat.
"I sincerely hope my medal changes the face of India's Olympic sports," the bespectacled shooter told reporters.
As Bindra bowed his head to receive the gold medal
from the Princess of Lichtenstein, a small country in central Europe,
and the Indian national anthem was played out for the first time in
this edition of Olympics, the shooter had his feet firmly on the
ground, betraying little emotions.
"For me, life will go on as usual but I sincerely
hope Olympic sports get a leg-up. It's not a priority back home and I
hope more focus is paid to these events like shooting," he said.
Asked about his scorching run in the finals, Abhinav said it was a conscious plan to pull out all stops and it paid off.
"I entered the final as fourth, which means I had
to go all out for it. That's why I was so aggressive and it paid off in
the end. I guess it was my day," he said.
Bindra, whose career at one stage was jeopardised
by a nagging back injury, said it was not easy to keep himself keyed up
all along.
"I worked hard, left home and trained in Germany.
It only proves that if you keep working hard, you would have your day
someday and fortunately, it was my day today.
"My parents, family and coaches stood by me all along and I owe it to them," he said.
Even in his hour of supreme glory, Bindra was
magnanimous towards his rival when he applauded Zhu for his performance
and said "he should be happy that he won a medal".
Bindra's compatriot Gagan Narang too almost made
it to the final but was ruled out on countback. Gagan scored 595,
levelled at the fifth place but lost out on a final place in countback.
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