Who was the first Indian to win an individual Olympic gold medal?
The first Indian to win an individual Olympic gold medal was Abhinav Bindra. He won the gold medal in the 10-metre air rifle shooting event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His victory made him the first Indian to win an individual Olympic gold medal. Before Bindra, India had won Olympic gold medals in hockey, but those were team victories. Bindra’s achievement was therefore a landmark moment in Indian Olympic history. He scored 700.5 points in the final to secure the gold medal, finishing ahead of China’s Zhu Qinan and Finland’s Henri Häkkinen. At the age of 25, Bindra became one of the most celebrated Indian athletes and an important figure in the country’s Olympic sporting history.
