Abhinav Bhindras' gold medal in Beijing Olympics,2008:Its impact on India

Abhinav Bhindras’ Gold Medal in Beijing Olympics,2008:Its impact on India

India has been a barren land in winning a gold medal in the Olympic games for over a period of a quarter of a Century. It was in the Moscow Olympics, in the year 1980, India managed to win a gold medal in hockey led by captain Baskaran. It is unfortunate to note, thereafter, India was not able to win a gold medal all these years. Thanks to Abhinav Bhindra, who won a gold medal on individual basis in Beijing Olympics, 2008, ending a long drought of 28 years without a gold medal in Olympics for India.

Abhinav Bhindra, a Chandigarh based business man, aged 25, made history by winning the individual gold medal in the 10 m air rifle event, beating his nearest rivals, the Chinese defending champion and a man from Finland, both of whom won the silver and bronze medals respectively. Though Abhinav Bhindra was only in the fourth position until his last round, managed to score near 10.8 points and thereby winning the gold medal, edging his nearest rival, the Chinese defending champion who managed to score only 10.5 in the last round.

Abhinav Bhindra, the son of a Punjab business man was a shy person by nature but he developed a passion for air rifle shooting when he was thirteen. It was yet another shooter from Punjab who motivated him and his competitive interest in air rifle shooting. Abhinav Bhindra used to practice hard for over 7 hours in a day and despite of being rich he was so humble and unassuming. Prior to Olympics Abhinav Bhindra had a special training session in Germany. Each bullet that he used for his practice had cost him Rs 15/-

Abhinav Bhindra after winning world championships a few months ago and now the Olympic gold medal in Beijing felt rather empty after striking gold, because he felt as if he reached the acme and nothing remained to be conquered. According to Abhinav Bhindra ‘It was really challenging, to be without any real challenger.’ To such an extent he was more competitive.

Though Abhinav Bhindra’s achievement in winning a gold medal is hailed as one in a billion, his gold medal will not spur any marked improvement in air rifle shooting in India, since it is not a popular sport just like cricket or hockey. But Abhinav Bhindras’ achievement has so far fetched him Rs 1.32 crores, the Punjab Government contributing the bulk amount of Rs One crore. Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has already announced Abhinav Bhindra as the grand ambassador of Railways.

The ad world in India is not impressed by Abhinav Bhindras’ achievement since it is not from a popular sport like cricket, besides Abhinav Bhindras’ shy nature. But still some others believe that Abhinav Bhindra has a photogenic face and his achievement is par excellent.Still he can make his own impression by virtue of his monumental achievement, by making planned and sustained efforts in that direction.

But one thing is certain. Abhinav Bhindras’ achievement in Beijing Olympics, 2008, will add a fillip to Indias’ Olympic contingent and motivate them to scale new heights in their own arena of sports.