Olympian goldfinger set to become Dr Bindra

{image-Abhinav Bindra_28082008.jpg news.oneindia.in}Chennai, Aug 28: Ace shooter Abhinav Bindra, who won India's first-ever individual gold at Beijing Olympics, will be honoured with an Honorary Doctorate by the SRM University, a leading private educational institution in Tamil Nadu.

University Vice-Chancellor, Prof P Sathyanarayanan, told here on Thursday, Aug 28 the young shooter, who inspired India to win two more medals (bronze in wrestling and boxing) in the quadrennial event, would be conferred with the Honorary Doctorate during the University's fourth convocation to be held at its campus in suburban Kattankulathur on September 7. He said Bindra had given consent to receive the Doctorate when the University officials called on him at his residence in Chandigarh to present Rs 5 lakh cash award announced by the University in recognition of his achievement.

Prof Sathyanarayanan said Tamil Nadu Governor S S Barnala, who will deliver the convocation address, would confer the honour on Bindra.

SRM University is the first educational Institution in India to confer Doctorate on Bindra.

He said ISRO Chief and Eminent Space Scientist, Dr Madhavan Nair, would also be conferred with Honorary Doctorate (DSc) during the convocation.

During his visit, Bindra would also lay the foundation stone for a Sports Academy to be set up by the University to provide world class infrastructure to nurture sports talent.

The academy would have a synthetic eight-lane athletics track, world class shooting range, synthetic tennis courts, besides facilities for other sports like volleyball, basketball and badminton.

The Sports Academy was likely to become functional during the academic year 2010-11, Prof Sathyanarayanan said.

UNI