Abhinav Bindra Facts for Kids

Abhinav Bindra, born on September 28, 1982, is a famous Indian sport shooter and businessman. He is an Olympic gold medalist. He was the first Indian to win an individual gold medal at the Olympics. Bindra also held both the World and Olympic titles at the same time for the men's 10-meter air rifle event. He achieved this at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2006 World Championships.

Throughout his amazing 22-year career, Bindra won over 150 medals. The Government of India honored him with the Padma Bhushan award. He is also a key person who helps shape sports policies in India.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Bindra finished fourth in the 10-meter air rifle event. He also served as a special ambassador for the Indian team at the Rio 2016 Olympics. He was chosen for this role by the Indian Olympic Association. On September 5, 2016, he announced his retirement from competitive shooting.

Today, Bindra helps Indian sports through the Abhinav Bindra Foundation. This non-profit group works to combine sports, science, and technology in Indian sports. It also encourages athletes to train at a high level. In 2018, Bindra received the prestigious Blue Cross, which is the highest honor from the ISSF. He is also a member of the IOC Athletes' Commission. Bindra even carried the Olympic torch at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Abhinav Bindra's Shooting Journey
Life After Shooting
- Business and Sports Science
Olympic Results
Personal Life
Awards and Honors

Abhinav Bindra's Shooting Journey

Starting Young

Abhinav Bindra was born in Dehradun in Uttarakhand, India. His family is Punjabi Sikh. He went to the Doon School in Dehradun and St. Stephen's School in Chandigarh. He later studied business administration at the University of Colorado Boulder.

To get the best training, which was not available in India at the time, he spent a lot of time training in Germany. There, he was coached by Gaby Buhlmann.

Major Achievements in Shooting

Bindra was very young when he started competing internationally. At just 15, he was the youngest participant at the 1998 Commonwealth Games. He was also the youngest Indian at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. At the 2000 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 big honor in Indian sports.

In 2001, he 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, India's highest sports honor. At the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, he won a gold medal in the pairs event and a silver in the individual air rifle event.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Bindra broke the previous Olympic record. However, he did not win a medal. He scored 597 in the qualification round, placing third. But in the finals, he finished seventh.

After these events, Bindra suffered a serious back injury. He could not even lift a rifle for a year. This interrupted his training for the 2008 Summer Olympics. But Bindra made a strong comeback. He won the title at the 2006 ISSF World Shooting Championships with a score of 699.1. This win qualified him for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Olympic Gold Medal

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Abhinav Bindra made history. He won the gold medal in the men's 10-meter air rifle event. His total score was 700.5. He scored 596 in the qualifying round, placing fourth. In the finals, he shot an amazing 104.5 points, outscoring everyone else. He started the finals with a shot of 10.7, and all his shots were above 10.0. Bindra was tied with another shooter, Henri Häkkinen, before his final shot. Bindra then shot his highest score of the finals, a 10.8. Häkkinen shot 9.7, and Bindra won the gold medal.

Later Competitions and Retirement

At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, Bindra had the honor of being the national flag-bearer at the opening ceremony. He also took the athletes' oath for all 6,700 participants. Bindra and Gagan Narang set a new games record of 1,193 points in the 10-meter air rifle pairs event. They won India's first gold medal at those games. He also won a silver medal in the individual event.

Bindra won another gold medal at the 12th Asian Shooting Championships in Doha, Qatar. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, he finished 16th in the qualification round. In the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Bindra won gold again 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.

Life After Shooting

Business and Sports Science

Abhinav Bindra holds a bachelor's degree in business administration. He is the CEO of Abhinav Futuristics Private Limited. This company focuses on bringing science and technology into sports and healthcare. Through ABTP, which are centers for sports science and physical medicine, his organization has helped over 5,000 athletes and patients.

His non-profit, the Abhinav Bindra Foundation, gives athletes free access to the latest sports technology and high-performance training. Many athletes from sports like swimming, badminton, boxing, and para-athletics have benefited. 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 retiring, Bindra has been involved with the TOP Scheme. This is an important Indian policy for developing athletes. He was a member of the ISSF Athlete Committee from 2010 to 2020, serving as its Chair from 2014. In 2018, he was appointed to the IOC Athlete Commission. In these roles, he has worked to support athletes' mental health, financial stability, and business skills.

Olympic Results

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

Bindra's autobiography, A Shot at History: My Obsessive Journey to Olympic Gold, was published in October 2011. He wrote it with sportswriter Rohit Brijnath. The book was officially released by Union Sports Minister Ajay Maken. The book received good reviews. An actor named Harshvardhan Kapoor was chosen to play Bindra 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 commander-in-chief of 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 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
2024 – Olympic Order, highest honor by the International Olympic Committee

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Abhinav Bindra facts for kids

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