Intellectual Thoughts by Sanjay Panda: August 2008


Olympic- Abhinav wins a gold

Abhinav Bindra won India's first-ever individual Olympic gold medal when he claimed the men's 10m Air Rifle shooting title here on Monday.The businessman from Chandigarh, followed his world championship title two years ago to finally win a landmark gold medal for his country.

India, winners of eight field hockey gold medals, had never won an individual Olympic title before Bindra's feat. The previous best was trap shooter Rajyavardhan Rathore's silver at Athens, while there were bronze medals for wrestler Khasaba Jadhav (1952), tennis star Leander Paes (1996) and woman weightlifter Karnam Malleswari (2000).

Indeed it s great achievement and we hope it will change the mindset of hundereds of Indian who are crazy after cricket as there is no alternate game. The craziness about cricket started after india's triumph in the world cup 1983. Hockey wld have a similar status but thanks to indifferent performance of National team for so many years.

Time will tell how Abhinav's acheivement will influence other sports including his very own sport "shooting".