Abhinav Bindra


Abhinav Bindra is an Indian businessman and retired sport shooter. He is currently India's only individual Olympic gold medalist. His gold in the 10 meter air rifle event at the 2008 Summer Olympics was also India's first Olympic gold medal since 1980. He is the first Indian to have held concurrently the World and Olympic titles for the Men's 10-meter air rifle event: 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2006 ISSF World Shooting Championships. Bindra has also won 9 medals at the Commonwealth Games and 3 gold medals at the Asian Games.
With over 150 medals in his 22-year career, he is the recipient of the Padma Bhushan from the Government of India, and one of the top influencers of Sport Policy in the country.
In May 2016, the Indian Olympics Association appointed Abhinav Bindra as the Goodwill Ambassador for the Rio 2016 Olympics Indian Contingent. In the 2016 Summer Olympics, Bindra finished 4th in the finals of the 10-meter air rifle event. On 5 September 2016, Abhinav Bindra announced his retirement.
Abhinav Bindra's primary outreach to Indian sports is through the Abhinav Bindra Foundation, a non-profit organization that works to integrate sports, science, and technology into Indian sports and encourage high-performance Physical Training.
On 30 November 2018, Bindra was bestowed with the prestigious Blue Cross, the ISSF's highest honor.
Abhinav Bindra is also currently a member of the IOC Athletes' Commission.

Career

Early years

Abhinav Bindra was born in Dehradun and picked up shooting at an early age.
Determined to train with the best possible facilities, which were then not available in India, he would train for prolonged periods in Germany.

Notable international performances

At the age of 15, Abhinav Bindra was the youngest participant in the 1998 Commonwealth Games. Bindra was also the youngest Indian participant at the 2000 Summer Olympics. At the 2000 Olympics, he achieved a score of 590, placing him 11th in the qualification round. With that score, was not able to qualify for the finals.
In International competitions, he won his first medal, a bronze, at the 2001 Munich World Cup with a new junior world record score of 597/600. He won six gold medals at various international meets in 2001.
In 2000 he was honored with the Arjuna Award. In 2001, he was awarded the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, India's highest sports award.
In the Air Rifle event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, held in Manchester, he finished with gold in the pairs event and silver in the individual event.
In the 2004 Athens Olympics, he established a new Olympic record but did not win any medal. He scored 597 in the qualification round and was placed third, preceded by Qinan Zhu and Li Jie. In the finals, Abhinav finished with 97.6 points, last in the field of eight, was the only player with less than 100 points, and dropped to the seventh position.
After these successes, a severe back injury incapacitated him and he was unable to lift a rifle for a year, interrupting his preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Bindra returned to compete and won the title at the 2006 ISSF World Shooting Championships with a score of 699.1, qualifying him for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Abhinav Bindra titled in the men's 10m air rifle event, shooting a total of 700.5. He scored 596 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 all others never dipped 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 shot 9.7 to settle for the bronze medal.
At the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi, Abhinav Bindra was honored as the national flag-bearer at the opening ceremony. He also was bestowed the honor of taking the athletes' oath on behalf of the 6,700 participants from 71 countries and territories. Abhinav Bindra along with Gagan Narang shot in unison to set a games record 1193 points in the 10m air rifle pair's event for men to win India's inaugural gold medal at the 19th Commonwealth Games. He brought home a silver medal in the individual event.
Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the men's 10-meter air rifle event at the 12th Asian Shooting Championships, held in Doha Qatar.
Abhinav Bindra lost in the qualification round at the 2012 London Olympics finishing in the 16th place with a score of 594.
In 2014 Commonwealth Games at Glasgow, Abhinav Bindra again won gold in the men's 10m air rifle singles event.
At the 2016 Summer Olympics at Rio de Janeiro, he came fourth in the men's 10m air rifle singles event after losing a shoot-off for the top 3 to Serhiy Kulish, who eventually won the silver.

Business career

He holds a B.B.A. degree from the University of Colorado, US. Bindra is the CEO of , an organization intent on bringing science and technology into the sport and healthcare sectors. Through , a group of Sport Science and Advanced PMR Centres, over 5000 athletes and medical patients have been catered to. Under the , a non-profit initiative, athletes are provided access to the latest sports technology and high-performance physical training for free. Many athletes from sports such as Swimming, Badminton, Boxing, and Para-Athletics have benefited from various programs.
Since his retirement, he has been integral in setting up the TOP Scheme, one of India's most significant policies for Athlete Development. He has also been a part of the ISSF and IOC Athlete Commissions, where he has worked for the development of athletes through Mental Health, Financial Stability, and Entrepreneurship initiatives.

Personal life

Harper Sport published his autobiography, A Shot at History: My Obsessive Journey to Olympic Gold which he co-authored with sportswriter Rohit Brijnath in October 2011. It was formally released by Union Sports Minister, Ajay Maken on 27 October 2011 at a function in New Delhi, thereafter the book went on to receive positive reviews. Harshvardhan Kapoor is slated to take the lead in Bindra's potential future biopic for the big screen.

Awards and accolades

Awards for 2008 Olympics Gold medal