Abhinav Singh Bindra

Abhinav Singh Bindra is an Indian shooter and is a World and Olympic champion in the 10 m Air Rifle event. He won the gold in the 10 m Air Rifle event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Thus, he became the first Indian to win an individual gold medal at the Olympic Games. It was also India’s first gold medal since 1980, when the Men’s Field Hockey Team won the gold. He is the first and only Indian to have held both the World and Olympic titles at the same time. At the 2016 Summer Olympic Games at Rio de Janeiro, Abhinav Singh Bindra came fourth in the Men’s 10m Air Rifle singles event after losing a shoot off for the top 3 to Serhiy Kulish, who finally won the silver.

Abhinav Singh Bindra was born on 28th September in the year 1982, in Dehradun in a Punjabi Sikh Khatri family. He studied at The Doon School for two years before moving to St. Stephen’s School, Chandigarh. He graduated from Stephen’s in 2000. His parents had an indoor shooting range installed at their home in Patiala, Punjab. His Mentor was Dr. Amit Bhattacharjee who has been closely associated with him since the beginning of his career. At 15, Abhinav Singh Bindra became the youngest participant in the 1998 Commonwealth Games. At a later stage in his career, Bindra trained for prolonged periods in Germany, coached by Gaby Buhlmann, a Swiss rifle shooter who competed at five Olympic Games from 1988 to 2004.

Abhinav Singh Bindra began his career from Commonwealth Games. Later, in 2000 Olympics, Bindra achieved a score of 590, placing him 11th in the qualification round, meaning he did not qualify for the finals since only the top eight competed in the finals. He won six gold medals at various international meets in 2001. In 2000, he was honoured with the Arjuna Award and in 2001, he received the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. In the 2004 Athens Olympics, despite breaking the Olympic record, Abhinav Bindra failed to win a medal. He scored 597 in the qualification round and was placed third behind Qinan Zhu (599 - new Olympic Record) and Li Jie (598). In the finals, he finished with 97.6 points, last in the field of eight, and was the only player below 100 points. His sub-par finals dropped him from third to seventh. On 24th July 2006, Bindra became the first Indian shooter to win a World Championship gold in Zagreb. Dr. Karni Singh’s Silver in 1962 was the previous best by an Indian in a World Championship meet. 

At the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, he won the Gold in the Pairs event and the Bronze in the Singles event. Abhinav Singh Bindra missed the 2006 Asiad Games at Doha because of a back injury. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Abhinav Singh Bindra won the gold in the Men’s 10m Air Rifle event after shooting a total of 700.5. He scored 596 (fourth) in the qualifying round and out-scored all other shooters in the finals with a round of 104.5. In the finals, he started with a shot of 10.7, and none of his shots were below 10.0. 

At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, Abhinav Bindra was honoured with the distinction of serving as India’s national flag-bearer at the opening ceremony. He was also chosen to take the athletes’ oath on behalf of the 6,700 participants representing 71 countries and territories. Alongside Gagan Narang, Bindra set a Games record of 1,193 points in the men’s 10-metre air rifle pairs event, securing India’s first gold medal at the 19th Commonwealth Games. He also won a silver medal in the individual event.

Bindra later won the gold medal in the men’s 10-metre air rifle event at the 12th Asian Shooting Championships in Doha, Qatar. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, however, he was eliminated in the qualification round, finishing 16th with a score of 594. At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Bindra returned to winning form, claiming another gold medal in the men’s 10-metre air rifle singles event.

In May 2016, the Indian Olympics Association (IOA) appointed Abhinav Bindra as the Goodwill Ambassador for Rio 2016 Olympic Games Indian Contingent. Bindra came fourth in the Men’s 10m Air Rifle singles event after losing a shoot off for the top 3.

In 2014, Abhinav Singh Bindra joined the GoSports Foundation in Bengaluru as a member of their board of advisors. Abhinav Singh Bindra holds a B.B.A. from the University of Colorado Boulder, United States. Now, Abhinav Singh Bindra is the CEO of Abhinav Futuristics based in Mohali. The company is the sole distributor of Walther Arms sporting and target ai weapons in India. Abhinav Singh Bindra has sponsorship tie-ups with Samsung, BSNL and Sahara Group. Abhinav Singh Bindra is also the brand ambassador of State-run Steel Authority of India Ltd. and also a member of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Sports Committee since 2010. 

On 5 September 2016, Abhinav Bindra announced his retirement from professional sport. He has since remained actively involved in the development of Indian sports through the Abhinav Bindra Foundation, a non-profit organisation focused on integrating sports, science, and technology while promoting high-performance physical training. 

Abhinav Futuristics Private Limited is an organisation dedicated to integrating science and technology into the sports and healthcare sectors. Through ABTP, a network of sports science and advanced physical medicine and rehabilitation (PMR) centres, the organisation has supported more than 5,000 athletes and medical patients. Through the Abhinav Bindra Foundation, athletes are provided free access to advanced sports technology and high-performance physical training. Athletes from disciplines including swimming, badminton, boxing, and para-athletics have benefited from the foundation’s programmes. In 2020, Bindra launched the Abhinav Bindra Sports Medicine and Research Institute in Bhubaneswar, with the aim of bringing global best practices to India’s healthcare and sports medicine sectors. 

Following his retirement, Bindra became involved with the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), one of India’s major initiatives for athlete development. He served on the ISSF Athletes Committee from 2010 to 2020 and became its Chair in 2014. In 2018, he was appointed to the IOC Athletes’ Commission. Through these roles, Bindra has worked to support athletes through initiatives focused on mental health, financial stability, and entrepreneurship.

Abhinav Bindra has won seven medals at the Commonwealth Games and three medals at the Asian Games. Over the course of his 22-year career, he has earned more than 150 medals. In recognition of his contributions to Indian sport, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India and has emerged as one of the country’s leading influencers of sports policy. In 2018, Bindra was honoured with the prestigious Blue Cross, the highest distinction awarded by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF). He also won six gold medals at various international meets in 2001. 

In October 2011, Harper Sport published Bindra’s autobiography titled “A Shot at History: My Obsessive Journey to Olympic Gold,” which he co-authored with sportswriter Rohit Brijnath. The book was formally launched by Union Sports Minister Ajay Maken on 27 October 2011 at a ceremony in New Delhi. In 2024, Bindra carried the Olympic torch at the Summer Olympics in Paris. 

List of Awards and Accolades by Abhinav Singh Bindra

• Arjuna award (2000)
• Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna (2002- India's highest sports award)
• Honorary doctorate (D.Litt) from SRM University (2008)
• Padma Bhushan (2009)
• Made an honorary lieutenant colonel by the Indian Territorial Army (2011)
• Blue Cross, highest shooting honour by International Shooting Sport Federation (2018)
• Honorary doctorate (DPhil) from Kaziranga University (2019)
• Olympic Order (2024- highest honour by the International Olympic Committee)