The first Indian individual to win a gold medal in the Olympic Games, Abhinav Bindra could not replicate his Beijing performance and finished fourth in the 10m Air Rifle final round of the Rio Olympics 2016. The 33-year old Indian shooter, who finished with a score of 163.8, missed a chance to win his second Olympic medal by almost a hair. After his game, Bindra tweeted and thanked all his followers for their support. He even stated that though he did his best, it was not enough.
The 2008 Beijing Olympics Gold medallist was involved in a shootout with Ukraine’s Serhiy Kulish in Rio yesterday. Bindra’s 10.0 was not good enough to beat Kulish’s 10.5, hence the Indian had to settle in fourth place.
Abhinav Bindra, who was India’s most celebrated Olympian, met with an accident before the game where he fell down along with his gun. The accident damaged the sight of the gun, which helps the shooter take aim. This led to the replacement of the rifle which was probably not as good as Bindra’s main rifle. After the final round got over, this was tweeted by senior journalist Digvijay Singh Deo, who was asked by the Olympian himself to not to reveal anything about the accident before the game gets over.
I n an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, when he was asked that even after being the only Indian individual to win an Olympic Gold medal, why does he calls himself average or unsuccessful, Bindra answered “I’ve won one gold medal, and reached two finals, but after four Olympic editions, how many times has the Indian flag been raised during the victory ceremony?”
He added, “If I’m a part of something, I like to win, like every athlete who takes part would. I'm happy that I've been able to fight for my country for the last 20 years. Quantification of result out can’t be done with medals solely, I think I had a great outing today and the only thing that kept me from a medal was that elusive shot. It’s a lottery that I’ve always been waiting to win. Unfortunately, there will be no more attempts to win one again.”
