Abhinav Bindra (born on September 28, 1982) is a famous Indian sport shooter and a businessman. He is an Olympic gold medalist. He was the first Indian to win an individual Olympic gold medal. He also held both the World and Olympic titles at the same time for the men's 10-meter air rifle event. He won these titles at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2006 World Championships. Bindra has won many medals, including seven at the Commonwealth Games and three at the Asian Games.

He has won over 150 medals in his 22-year career. The Government of India gave him the Padma Bhushan award. He is also very important in shaping sports rules in India.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Bindra finished fourth in the 10-meter air rifle event. He also helped represent India as a goodwill ambassador for the Rio 2016 Olympics. He retired from shooting on September 5, 2016. Abhinav Bindra now helps Indian sports through his non-profit group, the Abhinav Bindra Foundation. This group uses science and technology to improve sports in India. It also helps athletes train at a high level.

In 2018, Abhinav received the Blue Cross, which is the highest honor from the ISSF. He is also a member of the IOC Athletes' Commission. Bindra carried the Olympic torch at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Abhinav Bindra's Journey in Shooting
Abhinav Bindra's Business and Sports Work
Olympic Performances
Personal Life
Awards and Honors
- Awards for 2008 Olympic Gold Medal

Abhinav Bindra's Journey in Shooting

Starting Young: Early Life and Training

Abhinav Bindra was born in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India. He went to the Doon School and St. Stephen's School in Chandigarh. He later studied business administration at the University of Colorado Boulder. Since India did not have the best training places back then, he often trained in Germany. There, he was coached by Gaby Buhlmann.

At just 15 years old, Bindra was the youngest person to compete in the 1998 Commonwealth Games. He was also the youngest Indian at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. At those Olympics, he scored 590 points, placing 11th. This score was not enough to reach the finals. That same year, he received the Arjuna Award, a special honor for athletes.

Winning Medals: International Success

In 2001, Abhinav won his first international medal, a bronze, at the Munich World Cup. He set a new junior world record with a score of 597 out of 600. That year, he won six gold medals at different international events. He also received the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award, which is India's top sports award. At the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, he won a gold medal in the pairs event and a silver medal in the individual 10m Air Rifle event.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Bindra broke the old Olympic record. However, he did not win a medal. He scored 597 points in the first round, placing third. But in the final round, he scored 97.6 points, which was the lowest among the top eight shooters. He ended up in seventh place.

After these events, Abhinav had a serious back injury. He could not even lift a rifle for a whole year. This made it hard for him to prepare for the 2008 Summer Olympics. But Bindra came back strong! He won the title at the 2006 ISSF World Shooting Championships with a score of 699.1. This win helped him qualify for the 2008 Olympics.

Olympic Gold: Beijing 2008

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the men's 10-meter air rifle event! He scored a total of 700.5 points. He scored 596 points in the first round, placing fourth. In the final round, he shot an amazing 104.5 points, which was the best among all shooters. He started the final with a shot of 10.7, and all his other shots were 10.0 or higher. Bindra was tied with another shooter, Henri Häkkinen, before his very last shot. Bindra scored his highest shot of the finals – 10.8 – while Häkkinen shot 9.7. This made Bindra the gold medalist!

More Achievements: Commonwealth and Asian Games

At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, Bindra was chosen to carry the national flag during the opening ceremony. He also took the athletes' oath for all 6,700 participants. Bindra and Gagan Narang worked together to set a new games record of 1,193 points in the 10-meter air rifle pairs event. This won India its first gold medal at those games. He also won a silver medal in the individual event.

Bindra won a gold medal in the men's 10-meter air rifle event at the 12th Asian Shooting Championships in Doha, Qatar. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, he did not qualify for the finals, finishing 16th. In the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Bindra won another gold medal in the men's 10-meter air rifle singles event. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he finished fourth in the men's 10-meter air rifle singles event. He lost a shoot-off for a medal to Serhiy Kulish, who later won the silver medal.

Abhinav Bindra's Business and Sports Work

Abhinav Bindra has a degree in business administration. He is the CEO of Abhinav Futuristics Private Limited. This company uses science and technology to improve sports and healthcare. They have centers called ABTP that help over 5,000 athletes and patients.

Through the Abhinav Bindra Foundation, a non-profit group, athletes can get access to the newest sports technology and high-level physical training for free. Many athletes from sports like swimming, badminton, boxing, and para-athletics have been helped by this foundation. In 2020, he opened the Abhinav Bindra Sports Medicine and Research Institute in Bhubaneswar. Its goal is to bring the best global practices to Indian healthcare and sports medicine.

Since he retired, Bindra has been involved with the TOP Scheme. This is an important plan in India to help athletes develop. He was a member of the ISSF Athlete Committee from 2010 to 2020, and he was the leader from 2014. In 2018, he joined the IOC Athlete Commission. In these roles, he works to support athletes with their mental health, money matters, and starting their own businesses.

Olympic Performances

Year	Event	Rank	Notes
2000 Sydney	10 m air rifle	11	590
2004 Athens	10 m air rifle	7	694.6
2008 Beijing	10 m air rifle		700.5
2012 London	10 m air rifle	16	594
2016 Rio de Janeiro	10 m air rifle	4	625.7/163.8

Personal Life

Abhinav Bindra wrote his autobiography called A Shot at History: My Obsessive Journey to Olympic Gold. He wrote it with sportswriter Rohit Brijnath. The book was released in October 2011. It received good reviews. An actor named Harshvardhan Kapoor will play Abhinav in a movie based on the book.

Abhinav Bindra Coaching

Bindra comes from a sikh family. He is a descendant of the famous warrior Hari Singh Nalwa. Hari Singh Nalwa was a top commander in the Sikh army during Maharaja Ranjit Singh's time.

Awards and Honors

2000 – Arjuna award
2002 – Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna (India's highest sports award)
2008 − Honorary doctorate (D.Litt) 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 (DPhil) from Kaziranga University
2024 – Olympic Order, highest honor by the International Olympic Committee

Awards for 2008 Olympic Gold Medal

After winning his Olympic gold medal in 2008, Abhinav Bindra received many awards and cash prizes from different groups and governments in India. These included:

₹15 million (US$260,000) from Mittal Champions Trust
₹5 million (US$85,000) from the Indian Central Government
₹2.5 million (US$43,000) from the state government of Haryana
₹2.5 million (US$43,000) from the Board of Control for Cricket in India
₹1.5 million (US$26,000) from the Steel Ministry of India
₹1.1 million (US$19,000) from the state government of Bihar. The Patna Indoor Stadium was also renamed after Bindra.
₹1 million (US$17,000) from the state government of Karnataka
₹1 million (US$17,000) from S. Amolak Singh Gakhal, chairman of Gold's Gym
₹1 million (US$17,000) from the chief minister of Maharashtra state
₹500,000 (US$8,500) from the state government of Orissa
₹500,000 (US$8,500) from the government of Tamil Nadu
₹100,000 (US$1,700) from the state government of Chhattisgarh
₹100,000 (US$1,700) from the state government of Madhya Pradesh
A free lifetime railway pass from the Railway Ministry of India
A gold medal from the state government of Kerala

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