Dreaming with eyes open !!!

I couldn’t believe it! It must have been the conspiracy that I would always be indebted to. Watching Abhinav Bindra shooting his way to history, I didn’t even realize it was the final and not the qualification round! Amidst all the action in countless number of events, irregular hours made worse by a different time zone (China in this case) and almost no expectations from the Indian contingent, I overlooked the fact that the small man was yet to achieve such a big thing! But at least, the conspiracy kept me awake at that very moment.

Even Bindra didn’t help the cause after that final shot. It was a faint, almost embarrassed smile after a millisecond that first gave me the hint that something had possibly happened. Raja Randhir Singh, Secretary General of the Indian Olympic Association and others in the Indian box didn’t know how to celebrate. They were caught off-guard. The first person to gave Bindra a hug and whose expressions told the story was ironically a white woman, probably a staff member with the Indian shooting contingent.

Abhinav Bindra gave India its first individual Olympic gold! The event – 10 metre air rifle shooting. Indians had witnessed athletes from Suriname and Ethiopia winning the Olympic gold but never one their own. The last time Jana-Gana-Mana was played at the ‘Greatest Shown on Earth’ was way back in 1980 but the credit was shared by the entire hockey team, not by an individual.

Rajyavardhan Rathore was 34 when he won the silver in Athens in 2004 in men’s double trap rifle shooting. Karnam Malleswari was 25 when she won the bronze in Sydney in 2000 in women’s weightlifting. Bindra will turn 25 in a month and a half. India now has a medal each from the last four Olympics. Leander Paes had won the bronze in men’s tennis singles in 1996. He was 23 then.

Moments after the news channel expert predicted more medals for India at the Beijing Games, news came in that Saina Nehwal, India’s best and World No. 15 female shuttler won her third round match to advance to the quarterfinal of women’s badminton singles. I think I’m dreaming! Have things finally started happening? I must immediately stop writing and start cheering Anthresh Lalit Lakra, the boxer who’s about to hit the ring!