Monday, August 11, 2008

Bindra wins India's first solo gold


Beijing, August 11: Abhinav Bindra won India's first ever individual gold medal on Monday with a thrilling come-from-behind victory in the men's 10m air rifle.

Bindra had been in fourth place after qualifying but had a brilliant final round and hit a near perfect 10.8 on his final shot to pull in front of Henri Hakkinen of Finland, who dropped to bronze with a poor final shot of 9.7.

That allowed China's Zhu Qinan, the defending Olympic champion and heavy favourite, to pass him on his final shot and win the silver medal.

Zhu had suffered a late lapse in concentration in the qualification earlier on Monday when he had to rush his final shots to make the time limit, dropping to second place behind Hakkinen ahead of the final.

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