India's absurdly high official-to-athlete ratio in Olympic delegations and pathetically low medals-per-capita (or even delegates-per-capita) count in the Olympic rankings have been the butt of ridicule for ages now. Last Olympics, even the tiny UAE managed a gold thanks to a marksman from Dubai, but India, a country of over a billion, has not captured a gold in any individual Olympic sport in the history of the Olympics, and in any sport for several decades. This is a truly historic event for India in the Olympics.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/sports/olympics/12indiagold.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin
NEW DELHI — India’s Olympic curse has finally been lifted, by the chief executive of a computer game company with a history of back problems.
Abhinav Bindra, 25, became the first-ever Indian to take home an individual Olympic gold medal, beating top Chinese and Finnish competitors Monday in a nail-biting finish during the 10-meter air rifle shooting competition. Bindra, a bespectacled M.B.A. from the north Indian city of Chandigarh, had shown promise as a teenage shooter but failed to win a medal in Athens, and hopes were not high before he competed in Beijing.
Until Bindra’s win, India’s population of more than one billion seemed to be collectively shrugging at all the Olympic carryings-on generated by China, its neighboring emerging global-market superpower.
Incidentally, he beat Zhu Qinan, last Olympics' gold winner in the same game.
Hurrah for India! And I so love it that the winner is probably a programmer and with back problems!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!!!
ReplyDeleteHehe, I was thinking marriage will figure somehow when you talk about unmarried Indians...
ReplyDelete"Bindra’s mother, Babli, told the local CNN affiliate that his win “makes him an even more eligible bachelor” than he already was, but added, “I think it’s a bit too early to talk about him getting married.”
First, she said, he should “enjoy his win and when the time comes we’ll talk” about a wedding. "
So Sohan... when is your turn??
India won something?
ReplyDeleteHahaha
My turn? Why, once I take a gold in the Olympics, of course. :D
ReplyDeleteNot in the near future, in any case. Much of my youth has already evaporated in the past few years of extended post-baccalaureate education and training.
Hehe, I thought that would give you some 'urgency'. ;-) But yes I can understand what you mean. Still keep your eyes open, you never know when fate will strike and Dubai is a cosmopolitan with with new people arriving everyday.
ReplyDeleteHope to visit Dubai and you soonish. Maybe next year.
I just read from a newsletter that all the Beijing Olympic medals are embedded with jade on their back.... wow!
ReplyDeleteYes, with different colors for gold, silver and bronze, and perhaps reminiscent of ancient Chinese "bi" (璧) discs.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, India just got yet another inidividual medal (a bronze, thereby already matching India's last medal score record from 1952), and may get yet another one.
Congrats again! I must get a glimpse of the medal..
ReplyDelete