The Hindu : Sport : Bindra realises India’s golden dream

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Bindra realises India’s golden dream

Kamesh Srinivasan

He fires a superb final shot to become India’s first ever individual Olympic champion

— Photo: Xinhua

MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN: Abhinav Bindra, who embellished his name in letters of gold in the pages of Indian sporting history, gives vent to his feelings at the moment of truth on Monday.

BEIJING: Abhinav Bindra has attained what he has always longed for — an Olympic gold medal. In the process, he also won independent India its first ever individual gold medal at the Olympic Games.

On Monday, Bindra, the World champion, beat a classy field including the defending champion and Olympic record holder Zhu Qinan of China, to win the men’s 10m air rifle competition.

In what was a historic moment, the 25-year-old Bindra came up with an outstanding last shot of 10.8, as against a maximum possible 10.9, to seal the gold, after having tied for it with the Finn Henri Hakkinen after nine shots.

There was no exuberant celebration — Bindra merely pumped his fist and hugged his coach Gaby Buehlmann of Switzerland.

“I just went for it on the last shot. It went my way. Today was my day,” he said, visibly pleased with his effort.

Engrossing contest

It was a nervous few minutes for the onlookers in the packed auditorium when Bindra started with a 4.2 practice shot and had only one 10 out of about 10 shots in the warm-up to the final.

“Going in fourth, I had a poor sighting series. Thankfully, it went my way once the competition started. I just focused on each shot,” said Bindra.

Starting the final in fourth place, Bindra’s first shot of 10.7 put him in third place. He shot a 10.3 in the second round, and followed it up with a 10.4 in the third, to find himself in second place.

He went 10.5, 10.5, 10.5 and 10.6 in the next four rounds, to lead the field by 0.2 points, with three rounds to go.

The next couple of rounds where he shot a 10.0 and a 10.2 saw Hakkinen catch up with him, going into the final shot.

With the contest poised on knife-edge, Bindra fired a brilliant 10.8 with his last shot to take his tally to 104.5 points, while the Finn seemed to fall apart, and could manage only a 9.7. Zhu made Hakkinen’s lapse prove costly, shooting a 10.5 in the final round to sneak into second place with a tally of 102.7, ahead of the hapless Finn.

“He performed a very great final,” said Hakkinen.In the preliminary rounds, Bindra finished fourth with 596 out of 600 — he had rounds of 100, 99, 100, 98, 100 and 99 — two points behind Hakkinen and one behind Zhu.

Putting Athens behind

In Athens four years back, Bindra had gone into the final round in third place. But a disastrous session saw his competition ruined, possibly due to faulty flooring in his station.

Recalling the tough time he had endured in recovering from that disappointment, Bindra said he trained hard to make things happen.

“There is not much I can say. You have to be at it,” he said. “One day it falls in your favour.”

“I thank my parents, coaches and everyone for their support,” he said.

Asked what he felt about making history, Bindra said: “I was trying to concentrate on shooting well; I wasn’t thinking about making history. Being two points behind, I had to shoot good. My coach asked me to be aggressive and that is what I did,” he said.

“I sincerely hope that it changes the face of Olympic sport in the country,” he said. “For me, life will go on.”

It could well have been two Indians in the final, but the man in form, Gagan Narang, shot a 595 in the preliminaries and missed out on the count-back to finish ninth.

It was a gutsy performance by Narang after a disastrous 97 on the first card.

He slipped a bit again with a 98 after three 100s, but ended well with another 100. Four others with 595 made the final but his penultimate 98 pulled him out. Narang still has the free rifle 3-position and prone events to look for a medal.

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