My ultimate dream is to win a gold medal at the Olympics

When the Indian contingent left for the Commonwealth Games, I had promised myself that I would do my best in my event and win the first gold medal for my country. I am happy that I was able to achieve what I had dreamed of.

Sameer Ambekar and I won the first gold for the country in the 10 metre Air Rifle pairs shooting. We faced stiff competition from the Malaysian pair of Mohomad Erman Zakaria and Mohammad Hameleay Mutalib, but we performed better in five of the six rounds and managed to score more than the 1164 points earned by the Malaysian shooters. [Bindra and Ambekar finished with a combined score of 1184 points.]

In all, there were 16 competitors in this particular event. The competition was tough, as nothing comes easy. But I had been training hard and concentrating on my shooting. I knew that I am capable of winning; and that is what precisely happened.

At the last Commonwealth Games I was the youngest participant. Now, four years later, I could represent India at Manchester and manage to pick a gold and silver medal. This is really good enough for me.

I must add that after my meeting with Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Ms Uma Bharti, she has been taking personal interest not only in shooting but other sports as well. The shooting ranges have been upgraded; I am being sent abroad for training. That is what I wanted.

When I went in for my first event at the Games, I was calm and content; I concentrated hard. Fortunately, things went as I had planned and my partner Sameer and I were able to win the gold medal.

In the second event I could have won the gold, but it was not my day and I ended up in second place. It was the men's 10 metre Air Rifle event. I finished just 0.5 points behind the winner, 15-year-old Asif Hossain Khan of Bangladesh.

I have now decided to participate in more events at future international competitions. Hopefully, if things go well, I should be winning more medals for my country.

As for the moment, I am going to take a week off and work hard thereafter. I still have to work on my technique a bit more. The Asian Games are barely couple of months away and I have to prepare harder. The competition at the Asiad will surely be tough, because we will have shooters from Japan and China participating.

By the grace of God, if I am able to shoot to my full potential, I will be able to do well. Of course, my ultimate dream is to win a gold medal for India at the Olympic Games.

Abhinav Bindra spoke to Onkar Singh