NEW DELHI, Aug 27: India’s gold medal-winning shooter Abhinav Bindra has urged the country’s Olympic chiefs to use the rare success at the Beijing Games as a stepping stone to further sporting glory.

Bindra, who made history by winning the first ever individual Olympic gold for India, said the time was ripe to ignite a passion for other sports in a country where cricket reigns supreme.

“We won three medals in Beijing and that gives us a lot of responsibility to keep the Olympic momentum going,” Bindra said at an event in Tuesday to welcome home India’s Olympic heroes.

Bronzes for freestyle wrestler Sushil Kumar and boxer Vijender Kumar added to Bindra’s gold to take India’s tally to three – another first for India, which had never taken home more that two medals from a single Games.

“I see this as a great opportunity to promote Olympic sports,” Bindra, who won the 10m air rifle event, said.

“We must now give our athletes the best opportunity so that they perform well at the London Olympics in 2012.”

—AFP