Top 5 moments of Abhinav Bindra's career

Abhinav Bindra made a billion people proud after he won the first individual gold for India at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The nation rejoiced as its son had ended a 28-year long wait for a gold since the hockey team achieved the feat at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Bindra recently tweeted that the Asian Games will be his last tournament as a professional shooter. He did however mention later that he will be around for Rio Olympics in 2016, but his participation depends on trials and qualifications.Let us relive some of the best moments of his illustrious career.

#5 Gold - 2014 Commonwealth Games

Abhinav Bindra with the gold medal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games

Bindra had never won a gold in an individual event at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in his last five appearances at the games. Prior to the start of the 10m air rifle competition at Glasgow, Bindra had revealed that this will be his last CWG. It was now or never for the Indian as he tried for the top spot on the podium.

He finished third in the qualification stage with a score of 622.2 behind two Englishmen Dan Rivers and Kenneth Parr. Come the finals, he started to climb up the leaderboard with consistent scores of 10 or more in eight series of shots. Parr had bowed out after sixth series, while Rivers and Bangladeshi Abdullah Baki seemed to upset Bindra’s dream of a gold in Glasgow.

The Indian did not panic and finished with a total of 205.3 points, a lead of 3.2 points over Baki who took home the silver medal.

#4 Gold - 2012 Asian Shooting Championships

Abhinav Bindra overcame Chinese competition to claim gold in Doha

The Asian Shooting Championships in Doha, Qatar was the qualifying tournament for the London Olympics in 2012. The Chinese posed the biggest threat to Bindra’s hopes of competing in London. However, the experienced Indian thwarted the challenges of both Chinese shooters Zhu Qinan and Wang Tao to emerge on top.

Bindra ended up with the gold in a close finish with 701.1 points ahead of Qinan’s 700.8 and Tao’s 699.9 points.

#3 Bronze - 2014 Asian Games

Abhinav Bindra with the bronze at the Incheon Asian Games

Like the Commonwealth Games, Bindra had not tasted success in the individual competition at the Asian Games. His best result was a silver in the 10m air rifle team event in Guangzhou. Bindra qualified for the finals in fifth position with a score of 625.4-47x points.

Two chinese shooters led the fray from the start of the finals. The Indian took the lead after four series of shots with 104.2 points. He was just 0.1 points ahead of Yifei Cao of China and 0.5 points in front of Haoran Yang of China.

During the second half of the final, Bindra slipped to third place and it was a close fight between the two Chinese shooters. Bindra was eventually eliminated after the eighth series with a total of 187.1 points.

Yang took the gold with 209.6 points, while Cao came second with 208.9 points.

#2 Gold - 2006 ISSF World Shooting Championships

Abhinav Bindra’s first World Championships gold

Bindra came into the World Championships in Zagreb after missing out on gold at the CWG in Melbourne a few months ago. He had to settle for silver in Australia. He did not let that result affect him as he started his campaign in Zagreb.

Bindra was in amazing form as he beat the Romanian Alin George Moldoveanu and Zhu Qinan of China to take home his first and the only gold so far at the World Championships.

#1 Gold - 2008 Olympic Games

Abhinav Bindra with the historic gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics

The best moment has to go for the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Bindra qualified for the finals in fourth position with a score of 596 points.

He started the finals with a bang as he shot 10.7 in his first shot to take the lead. He never gave away the lead throughout the contest and remained the only shooter to score 10 or more in every shot during the final.

He ended with a score of 104.5 points off his ten rounds ahead of Chinise Zhu Qinan’s 102.7 points. Henri Hakkinen of Finland came third with a score of 101.4 points. The qualification scores were added to the final scores.

Bindra’s total came up to 700.5 points which meant he became India’s first Olympic gold medallist in singles competition. It was a proud day for Indians across the world.