Abhinav Bindra clinched India's first ever individual Olympic gold medal OTD in 2008

Despite being a predominantly sports-loving country, Olympics glory is something that has eluded India despite their pool of talent. When Abhinav Bindra fired a 10.8 on his last shot during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, therefore, there was nothing but jubilation amongst the Indians who witnessed the rifle shooter's heroics. The final shot earned him a gold medal, his first and India's only individual Olympics gold medal till date, etching his name in the country's proud history. 

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Abhinav Bindra record: OTD in 2008, Bindra won India's first-ever Olympics gold

On August 11, 2008, India's Abhinav Bindra made history after he shot 10.8 on his last shot to win the Gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. Bindra was tied with Finland's Henri Hakkinen before the last shot, and the 10.8 was his highest score of the final, while Hakkinen slipped to 9.7 to settle for bronze. The Abhinav Bindra gold medal remains India's only individual gold medal at the Olympics so far. Speaking of the Abhinav Bindra gold medal, the former shooter said that the 10 shots at Beijing were the best of his career as he failed to score below 10. He secured a top-podium finish with a final score of 104.5 - 1.8 higher than the silver medallist, Zhu Qinan of China.

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Abhinav Bindra record: Abhinav Bindra shooting career

A 15-year-old Abhinav Bindra was the youngest participant at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, while he also competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics as the youngest Indian participant where he finished 11th. In the 2004 Olympics at Athens, Bindra set a new Olympics record during the qualifying stages but failed to win a medal as he slipped to seventh in the final round. The shooter's moment arrived in Beijing where clinched the top spot on the podium. The 2008 Olympic gold medallist failed to qualify for the final round in the following London Olympic Games. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, Bindra agonisingly finished fourth, after losing a shoot-off for the top 3 to Serhiy Kulish, who eventually won the silver. 

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Courtesy of the Abhinav Bindra record of more than 50 medals in his 22-year career, he received the Padma Bhushan and remains one of the top sports influencers in the country. Bindra also had great success in the Commonwealth Games, bagging gold medals in the Air Rifle pairs category for three consecutive games. In the singles category, Bindra won the gold medal in 2014 in Glasgow, having won the bronze and silver medals in previous editions. He also won three medals  (two bronze, one silver) in the Asian Games. Bindra retired after the 2016 Olympics and is currently working to integrate sports, science, and technology into Indian sports and encourage high-performance physical training through the Abhinav Bindra Foundation. 

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(Image Courtesy: Team India Twitter)