BCCI hails Abhinav Bindra

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has congratulated Abhinav Bindra in winning gold at the Beijing Olympics.

Mr. Sharad Pawar, the BCCI President, has announced a cash award of Rs. 25 lakhs to Abhinav Bindra.

"Hearty Congratulations to Abhinav Bindra for winning India's first-ever Individual Gold Medal at the Olympics. He has done the country proud. His achievement heralds a new era for Indian sport, "Mr. Pawar said.

The BCCI has got together with the Ministry of Sports to set up a corpus of Rs. 50 crores to support the country's medal prospects, in the disciplines of Swimming, Boxing, Archery, Judo and Wrestling, for the next three years, upto the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

This venture apart, the BCCI has been funding Aditya Jagtap (Squash) and Karan Rastogi (Tennis), as far as their training and participation in international events are concerned.

Incidentally, the BCCI had approved a proposal to support Abhinav Bindra on similar lines, and was in correspondence with him in this regard.