A day before Abhinav Bindra was to leave for the Beijing Olympics, I met him in Chandigarh. As usual, the young shooter was with his coach Colonel J.S. Dhillon, who happened to be my colleague in the Indian Army.

Since I know Abhinav from his childhood, I always have a special liking for him. His parents are very close to me and my wife. In Chandigarh, everyone is aware that my wife, who was the director of sports, contributed a lot to the development of the shooting range in the garden city.

When I wished Abhinav luck for the Olympics, he smiled and softly said that he would do his best. Knowing that he is a man of few words, I didn’t probe any further. But believe me, I knew he was perfectly capable of winning a medal in the Olympics.

But then, I must admit that I could never imagine he would give us such a pleasant surprise by winning the gold. In Olympics, there is many a slip between the cup and the lip. No one knows it better than me as I learned it the hard way in Rome in 1960.

Yours truly is not the only Indian to miss an Olympic medal by a whisker. For years, we have been talking about athletes like G.S. Randhawa, P.T. Usha and Sriram Singh, who could have and should have won Olympic medals but were edged out at the last moment.

Finally, Abhinav has exorcised the ghost. As a nation, we can now hold our heads high and tell the world that an Indian, too, has the ability to win an individual gold medal in the Olympics. I have won many a laurels as a sportsman, but this is certainly the greatest day in my life.

Since morning, people have been asking me what should be the best way to honour Abhinav when he returns to India. I strongly feel that the government of India should award him the Bharat Ratna.

Please don’t be shocked by my utterances. If all those politicians can be given the award, then why can’t Abhinav get it? After all, he rewrote the history of Indian sport in Beijing on Monday.

Today Abhinav is the darling of the entire nation. But before you start celebrating, kindly pause for a moment and spare a thought for the hard work that Abhinav put in for winning the gold at the Olympics.

A section of the media, who always have a “know all” attitude, almost wrote Abhinav off when he got injured last year. I am simply delighted that our boy has proved them terribly wrong. He showed that hard work and determination can take one to the pinnacle of glory.

I am an old man now. When I look back and think about my athletics career, I still feel disappointed for missing the Olympic medal in Rome. It was within my grasp but I gave it away on a platter.

Now, I have no regrets. My children have finally arrived to take over the mantle and carry on with our unfinished work. Abhinav has done the groundwork.

I can foresee those days when hundreds of Abhinavs will show the world that India are capable of winning Olympic golds.