This Day That Year: Indian won an historic Gold medal at Olympics

 

It was a historic day for Indian sports as Abhinav Bindra became the first Indian to win a gold medal in an individual event at Olympic history. The feat happened during the Beijing Olympics 2008 played on 11^th August.

The finals went right down to the wire at the 10 m air rifle. Bindra never dropped his guard as he shot 10 or above in every round. He won the gold medal by shooting a total of 700.5. It was the 10 m air rifle event. In the finals, he Bindra started with 10.7 and all others never dropped below 10.0. Bindra was tied with Henri Hakkinen going into the final shot. The Indian shot a perfect shot of 10.8 while Hakkinen shot 9.8 to settle for a bronze medal.

Bindra began his shooting at the age of 15 and was a part of the 2000 Sydney Olympics team. He finished 11^th in the 10 m air rifle with a total of 590. In the 2004 Athens Olympics, he created a record in the qualifying round but finished 7^th with a total of 694.6.

Before this historic medal, India won all the gold medals in team sports including Field Hockey. This was a remarkable feat as the Indian’s started to believe that India can win medals at the biggest stage with countries like Germany, China, Australia, and top developed nations.

He had a disappointing 2012 London Olympics where he finished 16^th with a total of 594. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, Bindra came close to winning the bronze medal with a total of 163.8 but finished fourth. He was tied with Serhiy Kulish and went into a shootout. Bindra was not able to shoot as Kulish hit the shot. This was his last appearance at the biggest stage before calling on his illustrious career.

In the 2016 Rio Olympics, India won medals including 1 silver and 1 bronze. PV Sindhu created history by becoming the first woman to win a silver medal while Sakshi Malik also won a historic medal in women’s wrestling.

Abhinav Bindra has been a superstar to win Gold medals in Commonwealth Games. He won the historic gold medal in pair event during 2002 at Manchester, 2006 at Melbourne, 2010 in Delhi. He won gold at 2014 Commonwealth Games at Glasgow.

In the 2006 World Championship, Bindra won the gold medal played at Zagreb. He played a total of 5 Olympics. Bindra has won a lot of awards in his career with Arjuna Award in 2000, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2002, Honorary Directorate from SRM university in 2008, Padma Bhusan in 2009, made an honorary lieutenant colonel by the Indian Territorial Army in 2011.

For winning the historic gold medal in 2008, there was cash prize from everywhere in the country. With the Tokyo Olympics set to take place next year, the Indian fans would be hoping to see a shooter achieve this remarkable feat again.

 This Day That Year: Abhinav Bindra won a historic gold medal at the 10 m air rifle event in 2008