This Olympics was one of the biggest event that India could ever had. An achievement in Shooting has changed the status of India into a great level. Till date as Olympics has not finished yet India acquired one individual gold that is very much important to India. After a span of 30 years, Indian national Anthem have been heard in this Summer Olympics 2008. India had sent many participants for the Olympics in various fields. Lets check out the Olympic medal achievers from India.
1. Abhinav Bindra
He is the man who raised the pride of India. He won gold in 10m Air rifle thereby ending the decade’s long hunger of an individual gold for India. He is from Chandigarh and from an affluent Sikh family. He is very much educated, he holds a BBA degree. He is the current CEO of his highly reputed company Abhinav Futuristic, a PC games peripherals distributor based in Chandigarh. He is very much indulged and a hard worker for shooting from his earlier ages. He used to practice for 12 to 14 hrs a day in the shooting range. His hard work and dedication paid him many awards and a big one that changed his life i.e. Olympic award in 2008. By that he became the brightest young star in the new breed of shooters. His medal hunt started at the age of 15 in commonwealth games in 1998. He was the youngest participant in that game. He received Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna awards for his performance. Thus he became the first Indian to score an individual gold at the Olympics after 28 years, since the mens Hockey team won the gold at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. All the state governments of India announced their gratitude and rewards for Abhinav.
2. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore
He was the first Indian shooter to achieve a medal for India after independence. He was a Lieutenant colonel by his profession in army. He is an eminent shooter who bagged the first individual silver medal for India. His event was Men’s Double Trap shooting. He bagged silver for his event at the summer Olympics of 2004 in Athens. He represented India at this Olympics 2008. But this Olympics 2008 at Beijing proved to be an unlucky event for Rathore being disqualified. After his achievement in Athens the luck became his part when he participated in men’s double trap at the Asian Clay shooting championships. He has also performed in many events and has raised the pride and honor of India. The country had honored him with the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM). He holds another record that he is the first officer from the Indian army who has been awarded the AVSM in spite of not holding a brigadier rank. The awards and honors haven’t been halted, he was awarded Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna award which is a dream come true awards for every Indian. He was also honored with Padma Shri by the government of India.
3. Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav
Jadhav was the first Indian to won Bronze medal he won the wrestling bronze medal at the 1952 Helsinki Games. Earlier he has bagged 6th place in the 1948 London Olympics for the event freestyle and flyweight. Before him India had only won medals for Hockey only which was not and individual sport. He was from a wrestling family and was able to grab all the primary lessons from his father Dadasaheb jadhav. After his achievement in Olympics he was placed in Police department. There were many events conducted for his warm welcome after the achievement. His villagers welcomed him by 151 bullock carts to his village which was an unforgettable incident in his life. There was a rumor that the government hasn’t considered him after his achievements. He hasn’t received any honor for his performance. The legend died in a miserable road accident at 1984.
4. Karnam Malleshwari
Malleshwari is a sportswoman from Andhrapradhesh. She holds the record that the first Indian women to achieve an award for India. She achieved a bronze medal in Sydney Olympics, 2000 in the 69kg weightlifting category. At her earlier age she began to practice for the weightlifting in a gymnasium nearby her home. Her sister is also a weight lifter in national level. She got a good support from her family and above all she reminds her coach Leonid Taranennnko, who was a renowned weightlifter. She was trained under a games project of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) for special areas. She started her Weightlifting career at that time and improved day by day and was included in the national camp and four years later she won the World Championship in the 54kg class. She received Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna which is the highest appreciation of any sports people. She was honored with Padma Shri at 1999 and Arjuna award at 94-95. She married a weightlifter named Rajesh Tyagi.
5. Leander Paes
Paes is one of the living legends in Tennis. He created history in the field of Indian tennis. He won bronze medal in Mens single competition at 1996 Atlanta Olympics in USA. Paes is from a sports based family and struggled a lot in his earlier days. His father represented Indian Hockey team for Olympics at Munich in 1972. His mother was a national basket ball player. At the Davis cup it was an era for Tennis that Paes defeating all the top ranked players. He has been the flag bearer for a long time for India. India set a record for the Mens double tennis with Paes and Bhupathi were in the field. They succeeded all through their ways getting many awards. After some years there was a split between them which Indians consider as one of the major blow in tennis. In this Olympics 2008, Paes and Bhupathi rejoined but they fail to create any old impact. They lost in quarter finals with Roger Federer.