Bindra Wins India's First Ever Solo Gold Medal

BEIJING (AFP) — Abhinav Bindra won India's first ever individual Olympic gold medal on Monday, saying it was a reward for "punching holes in a paper target" all his life.

Bindra, a 25-year-old businessman from Chandigarh, followed his world championship title of two years ago by grabbing the men's 10m Air Rifle shooting gold medal.

Athens Games champion Zhu Qinan of China won the silver and Henri Hakkinen of Finland the bronze after one of the most thrilling shooting finals in Olympic history.

Bindra, who trailed by two points after the qualification round, trumped his rivals in the 10-shot final as he went into the last shot level with Hakkinen on 689.7 points.

While Bindra secured his best score of 10.8 in the deciding shot, Hakkinen managed only 9.7 to concede the silver to Zhu, whose last shot was 10.5.

"It's the best feeling of my life," said an elated Bindra, a winner of India's highest sporting award, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (sports jewel), in 2001.

"I was just trying to concentrate on shooting, I was not thinking about making history.