Mama knew that he could do it; Singh indeed is King

Chandigarh, Aug 11 (UNI) Olympic star Abhinav Bindra's jubilant parents today said they were confident from the start that their son would bring glory to the nation by winning gold in his 10-metre air rifle event in Beijin Olympics.

''I was confident that he would do it. When I talked to him last night I told him that Mama knows you can do it,'' said Bubbly Brinda, brimming with joy that her son has proved her right by winning the country its first gold in an individual event.

''Today is a Red Letter Day in our life. Abhinav is on top and Singh, indeed is King,'' Abhinav's proud father A S Bindra, an industrialist, said.

''We were watching him with bated breath on televison. The moment he ascended to second slot from the fourth position, I had this gut feeling that he would clinch the Gold and he indeed hit the bull's eye at the last shot,'' he said.

As the news of Abhinav's spectacular achievement spread, people and mediapersons flooded Bindras' sprawling farm house at Chhat village on Chandigarh-Patiala highway, where he used to practice.

The villagers outside the house broke into traditional ''bhangra and drum beats'' and distributed sweets to celebrate the victory of the youngster who had done the village proud. ''We would accord him a hero's welcome,'' they declared.

''I give all credit to Brinda. I did spend a huge amount in providing him infrastructure but ultimately it was his hard work that has paid,'' said his father, reminiscing that Abhinav had also undergone long and tough ''commando like training'' in Germany to hone his skills.

Mr Brinda also hoped that Abhinav's success would encourage the government to invest in sports other than cricket. ''Though the government does help to some extent, but the expenditure in preparing an Olympian is exhorbitant and many talented sportspersons lose out on this count,'' opined Mr Bindra observing that cricket still overshadowed other games in the country.

UNI JN JS1732