Abhinav Bindra's first solo gold brings a refreshing change in Indian sport. This feat is sure to bring more Olympic medals in future to a cricket crazy nation.
The Beijing Olympics of 2008 has created history in Indian sports. No Indian had ever won an Olympic gold in an individual event ever before. What Abhinav Bindra achieved will be remembered forever. Hopefully it will ignite the belief in the Indian sports fraternity that many more such feats can be achieved.
The Moment of Truth – First Solo Gold
Abhinav was forth after the qualification round. The 10m air rifle event requires immense concentration and perseverance. Abhinav’s calm personality helped him to enter the top three spots along with Henri Hakkinen of Finland and Zhu Qinan of China. From then on Abhinav’s shots were mostly 10.5’s which kept him constantly in contention of a medal. In his last shot Abhinav hit a near perfect 10.8 which won him the gold. Hakkinen had a bad last shot which allowed the crowd favorite Zhu Qinan of China to move up and finish in second place. Abhinav was greeted by a hug from his Germancoach Gabriela Buehlmann who was ecstatic and exclaimed “You won!”. The Indian national anthem was played for the first time ever in an individual event. Zhu Qinan could not hide his feelings and burst into tears. While one man’s dream was shattered, the dream of a billion people was fulfilled.
Cause of India’s Lack of Medals
Boxing middleweight Vijender Kumar won a bronze and wrestler Sushil Kumar provided an unexpected result by winning bronze as well. A country of more than a billion people could only produce 3 medals in the Beijing Olympics. What is even more astonishing is that this medals tally of 3 is the highest that India has ever achieved in the Olympics. This paradox can be explained by the dominance of a single sport in the country which sadly is not yet a part of the Olympic Games. Cricket is considered to be a religion in India. The Indian cricket board is the richest in the world. The passion for the game has captured the imagination of people across demography. While this augurs well for cricket, other sports continue to remain totally away from the limelight.
The changing phenomenon
On August 11th, the leading newspapers in India had total coverage of Abhinav’s achievement. On the same day India’s cricket team suffered a huge defeat but the news was sidelined. Surprisingly there was hardly any criticism against the cricket team. In the coming days, the buzz amongst the sporting public and most importantly amongst the youth was aboutSaina Nehal’s feat of reaching the quarter finals in the women’s badminton. India’s boxing hopes Akhil Kumar and Vijender Kumar represent the new look young India, and have already taken the media by storm. Million dollars of prize money and endorsements for them are soon to follow. This represents a changing thought process and a belief that India can truly excel in other sports as well.
Future of India in the Olympics
With this gradual change in perspective and a visibility of success in other sports, India is sure to produce many more medals in the next two Olympics games. There are plans of introducing the Twenty20 format of cricket in the Olympic Games fittingly in 2020. Optimistic foresightedness reveals that this could add a new dimension to Indian sport. The tremendous passion for the sport would ignite India’s hunger for Olympic glory: the same hunger which brought not one, not two, but eight Olympic golds, with 6 of them coming consecutively in the game of Hockey which India had once dominated between 1928 and 1980. Watch out for India in 2020!
The copyright of the article India's Olympic Story in Summer Olympic Games is owned by Shounak Mondal. Permission to republish India's Olympic Story in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
The Beijing Olympics of 2008 has created history in Indian sports. No Indian had ever won an Olympic gold in an individual event ever before. What Abhinav Bindra achieved will be remembered forever. Hopefully it will ignite the belief in the Indian sports fraternity that many more such feats can be achieved.
The Moment of Truth – First Solo Gold
Abhinav was forth after the qualification round. The 10m air rifle event requires immense concentration and perseverance. Abhinav’s calm personality helped him to enter the top three spots along with Henri Hakkinen of Finland and Zhu Qinan of China. From then on Abhinav’s shots were mostly 10.5’s which kept him constantly in contention of a medal. In his last shot Abhinav hit a near perfect 10.8 which won him the gold. Hakkinen had a bad last shot which allowed the crowd favorite Zhu Qinan of China to move up and finish in second place. Abhinav was greeted by a hug from his Germancoach Gabriela Buehlmann who was ecstatic and exclaimed “You won!”. The Indian national anthem was played for the first time ever in an individual event. Zhu Qinan could not hide his feelings and burst into tears. While one man’s dream was shattered, the dream of a billion people was fulfilled.
Cause of India’s Lack of Medals
Boxing middleweight Vijender Kumar won a bronze and wrestler Sushil Kumar provided an unexpected result by winning bronze as well. A country of more than a billion people could only produce 3 medals in the Beijing Olympics. What is even more astonishing is that this medals tally of 3 is the highest that India has ever achieved in the Olympics. This paradox can be explained by the dominance of a single sport in the country which sadly is not yet a part of the Olympic Games. Cricket is considered to be a religion in India. The Indian cricket board is the richest in the world. The passion for the game has captured the imagination of people across demography. While this augurs well for cricket, other sports continue to remain totally away from the limelight.
The changing phenomenon
On August 11th, the leading newspapers in India had total coverage of Abhinav’s achievement. On the same day India’s cricket team suffered a huge defeat but the news was sidelined. Surprisingly there was hardly any criticism against the cricket team. In the coming days, the buzz amongst the sporting public and most importantly amongst the youth was aboutSaina Nehal’s feat of reaching the quarter finals in the women’s badminton. India’s boxing hopes Akhil Kumar and Vijender Kumar represent the new look young India, and have already taken the media by storm. Million dollars of prize money and endorsements for them are soon to follow. This represents a changing thought process and a belief that India can truly excel in other sports as well.
Future of India in the Olympics
With this gradual change in perspective and a visibility of success in other sports, India is sure to produce many more medals in the next two Olympics games. There are plans of introducing the Twenty20 format of cricket in the Olympic Games fittingly in 2020. Optimistic foresightedness reveals that this could add a new dimension to Indian sport. The tremendous passion for the sport would ignite India’s hunger for Olympic glory: the same hunger which brought not one, not two, but eight Olympic golds, with 6 of them coming consecutively in the game of Hockey which India had once dominated between 1928 and 1980. Watch out for India in 2020!
The copyright of the article India's Olympic Story in Summer Olympic Games is owned by Shounak Mondal. Permission to republish India's Olympic Story in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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