Beijing: Abhinav Bindra won India's first-ever individual Olympic gold medal when he claimed the men's 10m Air Rifle shooting title here on Monday.
Athens Games champion Zhu Qinan of China won the silver and Henri Hakkinen of Finland took the bronze at the Beijing Shooting Hall on the outskirts of the Chinese capital.
Bindra, the 25-year-old businessman from the northern city of Chandigarh, followed his world championship title two years ago to finally win a landmark gold medal for his country.
In one of the most thrilling shooting finals in Olympic history, Bindra overcame a two-point deficit against Hakkinen and one point against Zhu after the qualification rounds to annexe the title.
The Indian trumped his rivals with the best finish of 104.5 in the 10-shot final as he went into the last shot level with Hakkinen on 689.7 points.
While Bindra secured his best score of 10.8 in the deciding shot, Hakkinen managed only 9.7 to concede the silver to Zhu, whose last shot was 10.5.
Bindra finished with a combined tally of 700.5, a fair distance behind Zhu's Olympic record of 702.7 set in Athens.
Zhu came in with 699.7 this time and Hakkinen, a member of Finland's armed forces who is taking part in his first Olympics, scored 699.4 points.
India, winners of eight field hockey gold medals, had never won an individual Olympic title before Bindra's feat.
Abhinav Bindra (born September 28, 1982) is an Indian shooting sports person and businessman. He is the CEO of Abhinav Futuristics. As a shooter, he specialises in the field of Air rifle. In August 2008, he became the first Indian to win an individual gold medal at the Olympic Games and first gold medal since 1980 for India.
Abhinav Bindra was the youngest Indian participant at the 2000 Olympic Games. He won six gold medals at various international meets in 2001. In the Air rifle event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, Manchester, he won Gold in the Pairs event and Silver in the individual event. At the 2004 Olympic Games, he broke the Olympic record but failed to win a medal. He is a recipient of the Arjuna award in 2001 and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award for the year 2001-2002. Abhinav Bindra's potential talent was first spotted by Lt. Col. J.S. Dhillon. He was Bindra's first coach. Apart from being a shooter, Abhinav Bindra holds an M.B.A. (Masters in Business Administration). He is also the CEO of Abhinav Futuristics.
Abhinav's name will change the sporting scenario in India which in dominated by Cricket.
