Bindra shoots first Olympic gold for India

India, the world's second-most populous country, celebrated its first individual Olympic gold medal on Monday when Abhinav Bindra won the men's 10m air rifle.

Despite a population of around 1.1 billion people, India had only won four individual medals, none of them gold, since sending their first team to the Summer Games in 1928.

Bindra's victory was particularly sweet following the Indian men's hockey team's failure to qualify for the Games for the first time.

They have won the Olympic hockey tournament eight times and taken three other medals in the sport, though none since 1980. Indian Sports Minister Manohar Singh Gill said Bindra's performance would lift the success-starved country.