Bang on target!

Abhinav Bindra has won India’s first ever individual Olympic gold medal at the Olympics. His gold in the men’s 10-metre air rifle is India’s first gold medal after Indian men bagged the hockey gold at the Moscow Olympics in 1980.

Abhinav Bindra flanked by the silver medallist, Zhu Qinan of the People’s Republic of China and the bronze medallist, Henri Häkkinen of Finland . . .

Image: http://english.people.com.cn

Hopefully, this gold medal would inspire India’s youth and children to take up Olympic sports in a big way!

Congratulations, Abhinav!

Here is a list of India’s medals (a very sad record, considering her population) at the (Summer) Olympics so far . . .

1900 Paris: Silver – Norman Pritchard (men’s 200-metre sprint) and Silver – Norman Pritchard (men’s 200-metre hurdles)

1928 Amsterdam: Gold – Men’s hockey team

1932 Los Angeles: Gold – Men’s hockey team

1936 Berlin: Gold – Men’s hockey team

1948 London: Gold – Men’s hockey team

1952 Helsinki: Gold – Men’s hockey team and Bronze – Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav (men’s wrestling – bantamweight)

1956 Melbourne: Gold – Men’s hockey team

1960 Rome: Silver – Men’s hockey team

1964 Tokyo: Gold – Men’s hockey team

1968 Mexico City: Bronze – Men’s hockey team

1972 Munich: Bronze – Men’s hockey team

1980 Moscow: Gold – Men’s hockey team

1996 Atlanta: Bronze – Leander Paes (men’s singles tennis)

2000 Sydney: Bronze – Karnam Malleswari (women’s weightlifting – 69 kg)

2004 Athens: Silver – Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (men’s shooting – double trap)

2008 Beijing: Gold – Abhinav Bindra (men’s shooting 10-metre air rifle)