Abhinav Bindra in Rio Olympics 2016: How Twitter reacted to veteran shooter's narrow medal miss

Abhinav Bindra suffered a heartbreak in his Olympic swansong after he missed out on a medal, finishing fourth, in the men’s 10m Air Rifle finals in the Rio Games on Monday. Bindra was in the race for a medal finish for the most part during the event on Monday evening, before ultimately losing a Bronze medal shootout to eventual silver medallist Serhiy Kulish. [caption id=“attachment_2943060” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Abhinav Bindra missed out on a medal in his final appearance in the Olympics Games. PTI[/caption] Bindra had earlier finished seventh to qualify for the 10 metre Air Rifle quarter-finals while it was heartbreak for Gagan Narang who finished a lowly 23rd in the qualification round at the Olympic shooting centre on Monday. Bindra, India’s lone individual Olympic gold medallist, shot a cumulative score of 625.7 to end at the seventh spot and book his berth in the last eight. He found himself at the 10th spot after scoring 104.3 at the end of the first series but dropped to 11th in the second with a cumulative score of 208.7. Bindra’s exit in his final Olympic appearance was greeted with a flurry of poignant posts on the social media, especially on microblogging giant Twitter. Here’s a look at some of the reactions following the heartbreaking result: Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who won a silver medal in Men’s Double Trap in the 2004 Athens Games, was among the first to congratulate Bindra for finishing fourth in the finals:  

Abhinav,you are and will always be an inspiration for young India. My hats off to you for your valiant effort @Abhinav_Bindra @narendramodi

— Col Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) August 8, 2016

  Cricket might be the most popular sport in India by a huge distance, but that did not stop leading names in the sport, including batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, from getting hooked to the Men’s 10m Air Rifle finals:  

Well tried and hard luck in #Rio2016. We are proud of all your achievements @Abhinav_Bindra and what you have done for India.

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) August 8, 2016

More from Sports

Gurel offers support to Gukesh after struggling world champion’s hat-trick of losses: 'He can pull things through' 'Helpless' Gukesh hits rock bottom after another defeat to lower-rated teenage player

Heartbreak for @Abhinav_Bindra who narrowly missed out on a medal at #Rio2016 but made our country proud! pic.twitter.com/I3zRvPqrS5

— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) August 8, 2016

Fourth...no medal to show for the effort. But we are still proud of you, Abhinav Bindra. #Olympics #IND

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) August 8, 2016

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

WWE SummerSlam 2025 Night 2 results: Cody Rhodes beats John Cena in wild title match

  Then there were eminent sports presenters and journalists, including Harsha Bhogle and Ayaz Memon:  

Goodbye legend @Abhinav_Bindra. You made us feel good to be Indian.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) August 8, 2016

Chin up @Abhinav_Bindra We know you gave it all .. You'll continue to be our epitome of a modern day sportsperson #olympics #AbhinavBindra

— Jatin Sapru (@jatinsapru) August 8, 2016

  Athletes from other disciplines too tweeted about the shooter’s finals:  

Excruciating to watch... Great effort by abhinav bindra to finish 4th.. Closest we have come to a medal so far...

— Somdev Devvarman (@SomdevD) August 8, 2016

  Let us take a look at a few other posts:  

Ayyo. Wish Abhinav Bindra could have shot a tiny bit better, and German Hockey team could have shot a tiny bit worse.

— Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) August 8, 2016

Sad to see u miss out on a medal but tku #AbhinavBindra for all the glory u've brought to #Ind with ur amazing talent & dignity🙏🏼 #rio2016

— Sophie C (@Sophie_Choudry) August 8, 2016