The Hindu : Sport / Olympic Games : Bindra visits the Indian ambassador

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Wednesday, Aug 13, 2008
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Sport - Olympic Games

Bindra visits the Indian ambassador

Pallavi Aiyar

Beijing: The chants of “hip hip hurrah” were deafening as the 25-year-old Abhinav Bindra walked out onto a veranda flanking the garden of the Indian ambassador’s residence in Beijing on Tuesday evening.

A gaggle of excited officers, spouses and children crowded around the shooting champion. As he shook hands and signed autographs, a blaze of cameras captured his countenance.

The day after having made history by becoming the first Indian ever to have won an Olympic gold in an individual event, Bindra said that all he wanted now was some “peace and quiet” to relax. But, this is the one thing India’s over-night sporting darling is unlikely to find easy to come by.

At the Indian embassy in Beijing, the ambassador Nirupama Rao served celebratory chocolate cake in the champion’s honour and announced she had “been on cloud nine” since hearing the news of his achievement.

Dressed in a light blue button down shirt and khaki slacks, Bindra wore the shy smile of a bookish college student as he brushed off his success with a single sentence. “It was my day,” he said.

When asked by The Hindu as to what went through his head at the moment he realised he had won, Bindra shrugged. “I just laughed, because I had done it,” he said.

Deceptive looks

Asked about his relatively undemonstrative reaction to the win, especially when compared to the gush of tears of rival Zhu Qinan who took the silver, the Olympics champion smiled, “Looks are deceptive,” he said. “You can be calm outside but a volcano can be going on inside.”

Would his achievement finally help Indian sport broaden out beyond its one-dimensional obsession with cricket?

In reply, the marksman confessed that he too was a “huge fan” of cricket.

However, he added, though cricket is practically the national sport, that shouldn’t mean that attention shouldn’t be given to Olympic sports too.

“It’s only when we win 40 gold medals at the Olympics that we will be able to call ourselves a sporting nation,” Bindra said. “Cricket alone can never make us a sporting nation.”

Proud family

The gold medallist will head back to India on Wednesday evening. “I think (my family) are more excited than I am,” he said.

And when asked about the fact that his mother had announced herself to have her hands full, now that her son qualified as India’s most eligible bachelor, he declared, “I’m not talking to my mom.”

As Bindra was led away towards a snacks table laden with samosas and chicken tikkas, the teenaged son of an embassy staffer looked on wide-eyed.

“I am normally only interested in cricket and soccer,” Vishnu Krishan Das said. “But now, I am very proud of Abhinav and I think maybe I should also learn shooting,” he added gravely.

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