Ace shooter Abhinav Bindra gives smart reply after fan tries to troll him on his gold medal anniversary 

Olympics Day 3 - Shooting
Bindra with his gold medal at the Beijing Olympics

It was on this day, in 2008, when Abhinav Bindra scripted his name in history by becoming India’s first ever individual Olympic gold medallist at the Beijing Olympic Games. Now, nine years later, a fan sarcastically tried to troll him by saying it was a ‘fluke’ and that Bindra should prove him wrong by winning another gold in the next Olympics.

Bindra, on his part, saw the funnier side to it and replied that although it might have been a fluke, no one can take away the gold medal from him.

Here is the exchange that happened on Twitter:

Later on, the fan expressed how proud he was of Bindra’s feat and thanked the ace shooter.

It is easy to forget with time. I bet most of you reading this did not know (or remember, for that matter) that it was on this very date in 2008 that Bindra achieved his feat. But that doesn’t make the achievement any less spectacular.

It was a Monday. Bindra was fourth after the qualifying round of 10m Air Rifle and chances of him finishing on the podium were slim. However, a brilliant final round and a near perfect 10.8 on his last shot, gave him a medal shot. Finland’s Henri Hakkinen finished off with a poor final shot of 9.7 and dropped to bronze which allowed Zhu Qinan of China to salvage a bitter day with a silver.

At the press conference that ensued, Bindra was his as calm and composed as ever. “I can’t describe how happy I am,” he told journalists without a hint of emotion on his face. “It’s the thrill of my life. That’s about it. It’s hard to describe. I just went for it. I knew I was lying in fourth. Thankfully it went my way and I just went for it.”

The way he reacted today at the fan’s subtle jibe shows that he still is that calm man that he was back in 2008.

After the Beijing Olympics, Bindra went on to bag the individual gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. However, he could not replicate his performance at the Olympics. In London in 2012, he lost in the qualification round, while in Rio in 2016, he finished fourth.

Bindra had decided to call it quits after the 2016 Olympics. Consequently, although the fan wishes to see him at the Tokyo Games in 2020, it is a distant possibility.

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Edited by Shraishth Jain