India's Bindra wins Olympic gold

Beijing: India's new sporting icon, shooter Abhinav Bindra sent the nation into delirious celebrations by bagging the country's first-ever individual gold medal at the Olympics yesterday.

Keeping his composure in a crunch situation, Bindra came up with a near perfect 10.8 in his final shot to ensure a top podium finish in the 10-metre air rifle event at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall.

"I can't describe how happy I am," said Bindra.

"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."

His gold comes 28 years after India last won gold at the 1980 Moscow Olympics when the men's hockey team triumphed.

Bindra, who qualified for the final as the fourth best, shot the best series of final 10 shots for a score of 104.5 and a total of 700.5 on the way to his golden finish.

Tearful finish

Defending champion, Zhu Qinan of China, who broke in tears after losing on his home turf, totalled 699.7 with 597 in qualification and 102.7 in the final, finished second.

Finnish soldier Henri Hakkinen, who led the qualification with a brilliant 598, had to be content with the bronze. In the final he came a cropper with 101.4 points and in particular the last shot of 9.7 was the one that did him in.

"I wasn't thinking of making history," said Bindra. "I was two points behind the leaders. I was just trying to shoot good shots. I wanted to shoot well and shoot aggressively. And that's what I did."

Indian Sports Minister Manohar Singh Gill said Bindra's performance would lift the success-starved country.

"This is going to give a huge incentive in going up further and becoming a dominant (sporting) power," he told Indian TV.

Boost to sport

"We've won hockey golds in the past but the individual gold is going to give a huge fillip to all our sports. The boys and girls will run that much faster and jump that much longer."

India's only other Olympic medals were a bronze for freestyle wrestler Kha-Shaba Jadav in Helsinki in 1952 and a bronze for tennis player Leander Paes in 1996.

Weightlifter Karnam Malleswari became India's first female Olympic medallist with bronze in the 69kg category in 2000 and shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won silver in the double trap event four years ago in Athens.

The cricket-mad country had been optimistically pinning its hopes on 16-year-old swimmer Virdhawal Khade, who qualified for three events in Beijing, the 50, 100 and 200 metres freestyle.

He came only seventh in his 200 metres heat and is unlikely to make much progress in the shorter races but India will hope he fulfils his potential in London in 2012.

As if inspired by Bindra's gold, teen prodigy Saina Nehwal produced a stunner in the women's badminton singles to beat world No. 6 Wang Chen of Hong Kong 21-19, 11-21, 21-11 and storm into the quarterfinals at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium here.