An Olympic Gold medalist and a businessman Abhinav Arpit Bindra is a retired Indian shooter. He is the first and one of only two Indian athletes to win an individual Olympic Gold medal. Born in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, to a Punjabi family on September 28, 1982. He is the first Indian to win the world and Olympics title successively for the 10-meter rifle event. He earned those honours in the 2006 ISSF world shooting and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He has also won seven Commonwealth medals and three Asian games medals. Neeraj Chopra Wins Diamond League Title; Abhinav Bindra Congratulates Star Javelin Thrower on Achieving Historic Feat.

In his 22-year career, he has won a total of 150 medals and is also the recipient of the Padma Bhushan award from the Indian government in 2009. He is one of the top sports influencers in the country. The Indian Olympic gold winner celebrates his 40th birthday on September 28, so let's take a look at some of the lesser-known facts about him.

  • He is the youngest Indian participant to compete at the Olympics event, held in Sydney in 2000.

  • In 2008 he became the first Indian to hold an individual Olympic gold medal, for shooting in 2008 Beijing.

  • He was bestowed with Arjuna Award by the Indian government in 2000.

  • Honoured with Major Dhayan Chand Khel Ratna Award, India’s highest sporting honour in 2002.

  • Bindra received the third highest Indian civilian award Padma Bhushan Award in 2009.

  • He is the only Indian to win successive gold in the world championship and Olympics in 2006 Zagreb and 2008 Beijing respectively, both in the 10m air rifle event.

  • In the 10m air rifle event Bindra has also won Commonwealth golds on four consecutive occasions in, 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014.

  • Abhinav has won seven medals at Commonwealth Games and three at Asian Games.

  • He was also appointed as an honourary Lieutenant Colonel in 2011 by the Indian Territorial Army.

Bindra’s primary outreach to Indian sports is through the Abhinav Bindra Foundation. It is a non-profitable organisation that works to integrate sports, science, and technology into Indian sports and encourage high-performance technology.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 28, 2022 11:10 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).