A Shot At History: My Obsessive Journey to Olympic Gold
Rohit Brijnath
Oct 2011 · Harper Collins
4.8star
34 reviewsreport
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252
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About this ebook
Abhinav Bindra once shot 100 out of 100 in practice six times in a row and walked out of the range unhappy. He is a perfectionist who once soled his shoes with rubber from Ferrari tyres because he thought it would help. He would wake up at 3 am to practise at his range at home if an idea suddenly struck him. It is from such obsession that greatness arrives. Abhinav Bindra's journey to become the first Indian to win an individual Olympic gold, and the first Indian to win a World Championship gold, is a story of single-minded passion. The Olympics has been an all-consuming journey for him ever since he was shattering beer bottles and glass ampoules in his garden in Chandigarh. No obstacle was too hard to overcome, no amount of practice too much, no experiment too futile and no defeat so severe that it made a comeback impossible. Shattered by his failure at the 2004 Athens Olympics when a gold medal seemed imminent, he changed as a shooter: from a boy who loved shooting, he became an athlete bent on redemption, a scientist who would try anything - from mapping his own brain to drinking yak milk to climbing rock walls - to win at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. His victory was not just a personal triumph, it was a gift to his nation, a breaking down of a sporting barrier that had stood for a century. Bindra's feat has taught his peers, and those yet to come, that an Olympic gold isn't an impossible dream. In ranges, on fields, in arenas, Indian athletes now own a new belief, they wear the knowledge that no challenge is beyond them. Helping to tell this remarkable story is sportswriter Rohit Brijnath, who collaborated with Bindra in producing this compelling autobigraphy of one of India's greatest sportsmen.
Ratings and reviews
4.8
34 reviews
Monika Tewari
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December 4, 2017
I am a professional shooter and this book encouraged me a lot EVERY SPORTS MEN MUST READ IT ONCE
30 people found this review helpful
Pravin Menon
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August 1, 2019
Nice read. Gave an insight into what goes into the world of rifle shooting and what goes into the making of a champion.
2 people found this review helpful
Muskan
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March 17, 2017
Truly inspiring journey...you are always an inspiration for us...Abhinav sir
28 people found this review helpful
About the author
Abhinav Bindra is India's first and only individual Olympic gold medallist and also the first Indian to win a world championship gold. He has won seventy-eight international medals in the last fifteen years. Rohit Brijnath has written on sport for 25 years for such publications as Sportsworld, India Today, The Hindu, The Mint, BBC-South Asia website and The Age. He is currently a senior correspondent with The Straits Times in Singapore. This is his first book.
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