Abhinav Bindra

28 September 1982, Dehradun

Abhinav Apjit Bindra is an Indian Olympic gold medalist, retired sport shooter, and businessman. He is the first and one of only 2 Indians to win an Individual Olympic Gold Medal. He is also the first Indian who concurrently held world and Olympic titles for the men’s 10-meter air rifle event, having earned those honors at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2006 ISSF World Shooting Championships. He bagged in seven medals at the Commonwealth Games and three medals at the Asian Games.

With an estimate of more than 150 medals in his 22-year career, Abhinav Bindra received the Padma Bhushan from the Government of India and is also one of the top influencers of sport policy in the country.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Bindra finished fourth in the finals of the 10-meter air rifle event. For the Rio 2016 Olympics Indian Contingent, he has also served as a goodwill ambassador, having been appointed for that post by the IOA. However, on September 5 2016, he announced his retirement. It was through Abhinav Bindra Foundation that Abhinav had a major outreach towards Indian Sports. His foundation works to integrate sports, science, and technology into Indian sports so that high-performance physical training can also be encouraged.

In 2018, he was also bestowed with the prestigious Blue Cross, the ISSF’s highest honor.

CAREER

Early Years

Abhinav Bindra was born to a Punjabi family household in Dehradun in Uttarakhand. He did his education from the Doon School in Dehradun and at St. Stephen’s School in Chandigarh. He completed his degree in Business Administration from the University of Colorado Boulder. To train with the best possible yet available facilities, he decided he would train in Germany for prolonged periods.

Notable International Performances

Bindra was also the youngest participant in the 1998 Commonwealth Games by the age of 15 years. At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, he was the youngest participant. He achieved a score of 590 at the 2000 Olympics, placing him 11th in the qualification round. Although with that score, he was not able to qualify for the finals. But was also honored with the Arjuna Award that year.

He also bagged in six gold medals at various international meets and also managed to be awarded the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award, India’s highest sports award.
Also, it was at the air rifle event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester that Abhinav Bindra finishes with gold in the pairs event and silver in the individual event. Although he did not win a medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, he did establish a new Olympic record.
It was also after these major breakthroughs; a severe back injury incapacitated him and Bindra was not able to lift or hold a rifle for almost a year. Although he did return to compete later and won the title at 2006 ISSF World Shooting Championship.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, he was titled in the men’s 10-meter air rifle event, shooting a total of 700.5. He finished fourth, and outscored all other shooters in the finals. In the finals, he started with a shot of 10.7, and all others never dipped below 10.0.

At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, he was honored as the national flag-bearer at the opening ceremony. He also was given the honor of taking the athletes’ oath on behalf of the 6,700 participants from 71 countries and territories. Bindra, along with Gagan Narang, shot in unison to set a games record of 1,193 points in the 10-meter air rifle pairs 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.

Bindra won the gold medal in the men’s 10-meter air rifle event at the 12th Asian Shooting Championships, held in Doha, Qatar. And although he lost in the qualification round at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, he finished in the 16th place with a score of 594.

It was in 2014 Commonwealth Games at Glasgow, that he won a gold in the air rifles singles event.
At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he came fourth in the men’s 10-meter air rifle singles event after losing a shoot-off for the top 3 to Serhiy Kulish, who eventually won the silver medal.

AWARDS

• 2000 – Arjuna Award
• 2002 – Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna
• 2008 – Honorary doctorate from SRM University
• 2009 – Padma Bhushan
• 2011 – Made an honorary lieutenant colonel by the Indian Territorial Army
• 2018 – Blue Cross, highest shooting honor by International Shooting Sport Federation
• 2019 – Honorary doctorate from Kaziranga University