Calm and composed Bindra creates history

Calm, composed and looking ahead. This was Abhinav Bindra, who just won a shooting gold for India at the Beijing Olympics. This was India's first individual gold medal at the Olympics, and the first gold in 28 years, since the Men's Hockey team won the gold at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

As he stood at the podium smiling, his demeanor gave a glimpse of what the future holds - more medals for India.

Barely 26, Abhinav has been in the limelight, winning at many international events.

At the age of 15, Abhinav Bindra was the youngest participant at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and two years later he was the youngest shooter at the 2000 Olympic Games. He won six gold medals at various international meets in 2001.

In the Air rifle event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, Manchester, he won Gold in the Pairs event and Silver in the individual event. At the 2004 Olympic Games, he broke the Olympic record but failed to win a medal. Recipient of the Arjuna award in 2001 and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award for the year 2001-2002, Abhinav Bindra isn't just an ace shooter but also possesses a good business acumen.

Besides holding an MBA degree he is the CEO of Abhinav Futuristics, the sole agent of Germany based Walther brand of weapons for India which now markets their arms to country's law enforcement agencies.

Silent killer, as described by his father, he is the one who spotted his son's talent when Abhinav was 5 years old. "He kept a water balloon on our maid's head and began shooting, knowing little that a slight mistake could have proved fatal. But his aim was so perfect that I couldn't think about anything else but make him a pro," says AS Bindra.

Focussed, always shy from the media but truly a man of substance, Abhinav Bindra is one of the finest talent Chandigarh has produced. Before heading towards Beijing, Abhinav had even taken a commando course to build up his physical endurance and a mental training session to calm the nerves.

Congratulatory notes from all quarters have been pouring in ever since the news broke. The likes of Orkut, Facebook and numerous blogs are running dedicated forums, they all know that Abhinav is also an avid blogger.

Courtesy Economic Times