Abhinav Bindra win Olympic gold in shooting

[Tintin]

10m Air Rifle. The first individual gold ever for India and the subcontinent. First gold for India since hockey in 1980.

Bindra trailed the leader Henri Hakkinen by 2 points in the qualifying round. Was tied with him before the last shot in the final, but scored a 10.8 (the highest that anyone scored in the final) against Hakkinen's 9.7 in the last shot.

I like to put down linking sports and patriotism but the heart wins over the head in moments like these. It was impossible to watch the medal ceremony without tears in my eyes and the national anthem never sounded so sweet.

PS: Can be merged to the main Olympic thread later if there are not enough replies.

[Nocturnal]

WOW! Congrats!!

India's Bindra wins gold in the Men's 10m Air Rifle

(BEIJING, August 11) -- India's Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the Men's 10m Air Rifle in Beijing on August 11 with an incredible performance in the final. Bindra shot a total score of 700.5.

China's Zhu Qinan, gold medalist at Athens 2004, won the silver medal with a total score of 699.7.

The bronze medal was won by Finland's Henri Hakkinen, who was leading the field after the qualification round, but was unable to hold off Bindra and Zhu in the final. The Finnish shooter shot a total of 699.4.

Hakkinen shot 598 in the qualification round, giving him a one point lead over Zhu. Bindra was one point further back with 596.

Bindra signals his intentions early in the final, with a 10.7 on his first shot. None of Bindra's shots in the final dropped below 10.0.

Hakkinen's performance in the final was solid, but it needed to be better. He averaged 10.14 per shot in the final, compared to Bindra's 10.45.

Going into the last shot, Bindra and Hakkinen were tied for first place, but Bindra secured the gold medal with his best shot of the final, an outstanding 10.8.

Conversely, Hakkinen's last shot was his worst, a lowly 9.7. This allowed Zhu to overcome Hakkinen and win the silver medal. Zhu shot 10.5 on his last shot.

Zhu will be disappointed that did not become the first shooter to win two gold medals in the Men's 10m Air Pistol. However, he was unable to reproduce his best – Zhu holds the Olympic record for the final score in the event, the 702.7 that he shot at Athens 2004.

[mahbubH]

Congrats...

[Miraz]

Big congrats to A Bindra.

[ialbd]

congratulations to A Bindra and India for winning the gold....

definitely made the subcontinent proud...

[Tigers_eye]

Congratulations!! An achievment that can inspire a billion+ people.

[Puck]

lets just hope that they all take up the rifle at once. we shall be in trouble otherwise

[Beamer]

Originally Posted by Puck
lets just hope that they all take up the rifle at once. we shall be in trouble otherwise

We just have to take up semi-automatics then..

[AsifTheManRahman]

India won a bronze in wrestling as well. Amra kustakustio korte pari na, haay re Bangali.

[mirahsan]

oh yes and his mom claimed him to be the most eligible bachelor in India ..

[thebest]

the sad thing is even Afgans won a bronze today. C' on Afghanistan they are federations are poor even our standard

[Rabz]

Congrats to the Indian wrestler who won the Bronze.
Its a great achievement for you and your country.
You have made 'em proud.

[Bancan]

I thought a boxer was suppose to win a guranteed medal. I saw the fight last night.

[sbsash]

Congrats Bindra.

[Bengaliprince176]

thanks to all brothers giving the congrats to our sportsman! I'd like to think there will always be support for the South Asian countries in the olympics, and a big congrats to the Afghan Medal!

Superb by Bindra, made the country proud, and also our wrestler. Vijender Kumar, the boxer, there was an article on bbc about him, he cnt stand the hype of cricket in India (lol), he's guranteed a bronze, but he wil fight for gold!

[Nocturnal]

Beijing 2008-
India won - 1 gold, 2 bronze = total 3 ---> not bad. Congrats!

[Beamer]

Whats next for Mr.Bindra? Join the BSF ? lol..