Abhinav Bindra’s journey to becoming the first Indian to win an individual Olympic Gold, and the first Indian to win a World Championship Gold in Air Rifle Shooting is an example of a single-minded quest for perfection. His victory at Beijing was not just a personal one, it broke a sporting barrier that had haunted a nation for a Century.
Born in Dehradun, he has won over 150 individualmedals in a career that lasted over twenty years. His last Olympics were in Rio in 2016 where he finished 4th.
Recipient of the Arjuna Award, the youngest recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Mr. Bindra was also conferred with India’s 3rd highest civilian award The Padma Bhushan in 2009. He was also conferred with the title of (Hony.) Lt.Col. in the Territorial Army. For his exceptional services to the Sport, he was awarded the Blue Cross in 2018 by the International Shooting Sport Federation, which is the ISSF’s highest honor.
Mr. Bindra chaired the ISSF Athletes Committee for 8 years and is currently a member of the International Olympic Committee’s AthleteCommission,Education Commission and the IOC Members Election Commission.
Post his retirement from active sport, he founded the Abhinav Bindra Targeting Performance Centres, which are State-of- the-art Sports Performance and Medical Rehabilitation facilities. He also serves as an Independent Director on the Board of Bajaj Auto. He has also established the Abhinav Bindra Foundation Trust (ABFT) - a nonprofit organization to support Indian grassroots athletes across various sporting disciplines by imbibing cutting-edge sports science technology. Through the verticals of High- performance training intervention, education & social upliftment, the ABFT aims to bring Global Best Practices into the Indian Sporting Landscape, not only supporting what currently exists as a protocol in Sport but also making it more accountable, expert-driven, and locally contextualized.
Mr. Bindra is championing the cause of Olympism and its values with the aim of building more peaceful & inclusive societies by leveraging the power of sport. It is his belief that as a society, we need to imbibe theOlympic spirit in our daily lives and promote thei deals,values, and vision for acceptance, human rights, and non discrimination.Mr.Bindra has played a pivotal role in advocating for values- based education and bringing sport values to school children in India. Through his
foundation, he is currently engaged in delivering core Olympic values of Excellence, Friendship, and Respect as they promote the holistic development of young children and make positive contributions to society. Currently, the programme is active in Odisha in partnership with the International Olympic Committee & Department of School & Mass Education in the State.
