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| Human Interest | |
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Further Personal Information | |
| Residence | New Delhi, IND |
| Higher education | Business Management - University of Colorado: Boulder, CO, USA |
General Interest | |
| Injuries | A niggling back injury in 2006 kept him out of action for months and meant he missed the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar. It was a spinal injury caused by ligament overstretching in the lumbodorsal region. (nilacharal.com, 08 Jul 2009; Sports in MSN, 08 Jul 2009) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Why this sport? | He decided he wanted to win an Olympic medal after watching Indian shooter Jaspal Rana compete at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. |
General Interest | |
| Most influential person in career | His parents. (Athlete, 01 Feb 2000) |
| Hero / Idol | Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. (wsj.com, 02 Nov 2011) |
| Awards and honours | He was made an honorary lieutenant colonel in the Indian territorial army in September 2011. (indiatimes.com, 13 Sep 2011) He was the flag bearer for India at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India. (thecgf.com, 13 Dec 2013) He was INDTV's Indian Sportsman of the year in 2008. (abhinavbindra.com, 09 Nov 2010) He received the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award in 2001 from the Government of Punjab in India in recognition of his excellence and achievement in the service of Punjab. (abhinavbindra.com, 08 Jul 2009) In 2001 he became the youngest recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, India's highest honour for sportsmen and women. He had received an Arjuna Award the previous year. (abhinavbindra.com, 09 Nov 2010) He was awarded the Diploma of Honour by the International Sports Shooting Federation [ISSF] in 2000. (Nriol, 28 Jun 2001) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Name of coach | Stanislav Lapidus [national], KAZ |
| Handedness | Right |
| When and where did you begin this sport? | He began shooting at age 15 in India. |
Further Personal Information | |
| Occupation | Athlete, Business Owner |
| Languages | English |
General Interest | |
| Nicknames | Abhi (Athlete, 01 Feb 2000) |
| Sporting philosophy / motto | "Whatever your mind can conceive, your heart can believe, you can achieve." (abhinavbindra.com, 2014) |
| Other information | CRITICAL He has spoken out at the lack of funding and interest in Olympic sport in India. "I don't think many young people got into a [Olympic] sport and stuck with it for a long period of time. One of the reasons is that it is not lucrative enough. To stand up to worldwide competition, we need a strong set-up at home that produces athletes right from beginner level and has the sustained support for the same athlete to finally go and win an Olympic medal." (timesofindia.com, 02 Jul 2011) LANDMARKS He was the youngest shooter to compete at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and also became the youngest person to represent India at an Olympic Games. After winning India's first individual gold medal in at the 2008 Games in Beijing, he decided to retire from shooting. However, after 18 months away he decided to return to the sport. At the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, Korea, he won two bronze medals in the team and individual 10m air rifle events. This achievement meant he became the first Indian athlete to win a world championship gold medal, an Olympic Games gold, an Asian Championships gold, a Commonwealth Games gold and an Asian Games medal. (india.com, 23 Sep 2014; wsj.com, 02 Nov 2011; Dimdima, 26 Feb 2002) BOOK He was inspired to write an autobiography after winning gold at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The book is called 'A Shot at History'. "I chatted with a lot of Indian athletes and they were interested to know what I did. They all thought I had some sort of secret for success. I just wanted them to understand that the biggest secret is there is no secret. It's down to a lot of work and effort that you have to put in to achieve your goals." (wsj.com, 02 Nov 2011) OTHER ACTIVITIES He was named the International Shooting Sports Federation's [ISSF] representative to the International Olympic Committee's [IOC] 2013 International Athletes' Forum. He was re-elected to the position in September 2014. (india.com, 24 Sep 2014; indianexpress.com, 17 Jun 2013) CHARITY WORK He has set up the Abhinav Bindra Foundation. The organisation's mission is to help young shooters by providing them with funds, equipment and expert guidance to support their development. (gosports.in, 13 Apr 2015) |
| Ambitions | To win a medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. (Twitter profile, 16 Jul 2015) |