Abhinav Bindra – Olympic Athlete
Abhinav Bindra, the youngest Indian to participate in the Olympics in 2000 and the first gold medalist. Abhinav made history in the Olympics for India by becoming the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal in 2008.
The Indian Shooter has won many commonwealth games, and other tournaments, but his turning point is the Beijing Olympics 2008 gold medal. One of the most successful Indian Shooters, he is the first and only Indian to win Olympic medals in shooting. Since the beginning of his career, he has won many accolades for shooting.
Career
In 2001, he won six gold medals at different international meets on the European circuit. He was later referred for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. In 1998, he became the youngest participant in Shooting in the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur. In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, he was part of the Indian team but failed to win qualifying rounds. In the 2002 commonwealth games at Manchester, he won a gold medal.
In 2006, he created history by winning gold in the World Shooting Championship 2006. He became the first Indian to win the world shooting championship. In the Commonwealth Games held in the same year, he won gold and bronze in 10m Air Rifles Pairs and 10m Air Rifles singles respectively. 2006 was a great year in Abhinav’s career, but 2008 was a turning point.
His finest and most memorable moment came in the 2008 Beijing Olympics where he won the gold medal. He created history again and became the first Indian to win a gold medal in the Olympics. In the 2010 Commonwealth Games, he won the gold medal in partnership with Gagan Narang and silver in singles. In the 2012 London Olympics, he was not able to qualify, in the 2014 commonwealth games, he won the gold medal.
Awards and achievements
- First and only Indian to hold Olympic gold and a world shooting championship at the same time.
- He is the first Indian athlete to win gold in the Olympics.
- In 2000, he was honored with the Arjuna award, and the Rajiv Gandhi awards 2001.
- He won Padma Bhushan in 2009.
Personal life
Born in Dehradun, Uttarakhand to Punjabi parents, he keeps his personal low profile. He has a management degree from the University of Colorado. Apart from professional shooting, he is CEO of Abhinav Futuristics- the only distributor of Walther Arms in India. He has sponsorship contracts with companies like Sahara Group, and Samsung. He has an estimated net worth of $1.5 Million and is currently unmarried. He has a farmhouse in Chandigarh, Punjab.