The much awaited kicked off with a dazzling opening ceremony on 8th august 2008. Beijing Olympics, 2008 is officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. This year the official logo for the Olympics is a `Dancing Beijing` and its slogan is `One World, One Dream.` It is estimated that around 10,500 athletes are participating in 302 events in 28 sports. The venue for the Beijing Olympics is the Bird`s Nest stadium that took four years to build. The closing ceremony for Olympics 2008 is scheduled for 24th August 2008.
The ceremony that marked the inauguration of Beijing Olympics, 2008 was a stunning event. China stupefied the entire world with its blaze of glory. The opening ceremony mirrored the traditions and culture of China. While the world considers China a technological giant the country abstained from using anything remotely technical to mark the beginning of the event. Sparkling fireworks added to the magic.
Amongst the numerous nations that are taking part India too is one of them. India has sent a 99 squad member for participating in Beijing Olympics. At the opening ceremony it was Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore who was the flag bearer for the Indian squad. This year for the first time India is sending a team of swimmers to the Beijing Olympics. The following list gives precise information on the games in which India is participating and the athletes:
Archery
| Dola Banerjee |
L Bombayala Devi |
| Pranitha Vardhineni |
Mangal Singh Champia |
Athletics
| Anju Bobby George (Long Jump) |
Surender Singh (10,000m) |
S Geeta (relay) |
| Renjith Maheswary (Triple Jump) |
Manjit Kaur (400m) |
K Mridula (relay) |
| Krishna Poonia (Discus) |
Chitra Soman (relay) |
J J Shobha (Heptathlon) |
| Harwant Kaur (Discus) |
Sini Jose (relay) |
Sushmita Singh Roy (Heptathlon) |
| Vikas Gowda (Discus) |
MR Poovamma (relay) |
G G Pramila (Heptathlon) |
| Preeja Sreedharan (10,000m) |
Mandeep Kaur (relay) |
|
Badminton
| Anup Sridhar |
Saina Nehwal |
Boxing
| Jitender (51 kg) |
Akhil Kumar (54 kg) |
A L Lakhra (57 kg) |
Vijender (75 kg) |
Dinesh Kumar (81 kg) |
Judo
| Khumujam Tombi Devi |
Divya |
Rowing
| Bajrang Lal Takhar (Single M1X) |
Devnder Khandwal |
Manjeet Singh (Light Weight Double Scull) |
Shooting
| Manavjit Singh Sandhu (Clay Pigeon Trap) |
Gagan Narang (10m Air Rifle) |
Avneet Kaur Sidhu (10m Air Rifle) |
| Mansher Singh (Clay Pigeon Trap) |
Abhinav Bindra (10m AirRifle) |
Sanjeev Rajput (50m Rifle 3 Position) |
| Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (Clay Pigeon Double Trap) |
Samresh Jung (10m Air Pistol) |
Anjali Bhagwat (50m Rifle 3 Position) |
Swimming
| Virdawal Khade (50m, 100m, 200m Freestyle) |
Ankur Poseria (100m Butterfly) |
Sandeep Sejwal (100m, 200m Breaststrokes) |
Rehan Poncha (200m butterfly) |
Table Tennis
| Achanta Sharath Kamal |
Neha Agarwal |
Tennis
| Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi (doubles) |
Sania Mirza (singles and doubles) |
Sunitha Rao (doubles) |
Weightlifting
Wrestling
| Sushil Kumar (66 kg Freestyle) |
Yogeshwar Dutt (60 kg Freestyle) |
Rajiv Tomar (120 kg Freestyle) |
Yachting
| Major NS Johal (Heavyweight Dinghy) |
The proud moment for India came when Abhinav Bindra bagged the Gold Medal at Beijing 2008 Olympics. For the first time in the nation`s history a gold medal has been won by an individual. Before Bindra it was the Indian hockey team that won gold. Abhinav Bindra wins at 10 metre Air Rifle Mens Event. Bindra won an interesting match as in the Final Round Hakkinen and Bindra were tied. Bindra shot near the bull`s eye and Hakkinen collapsed under pressure of Bindra`s brilliant performance. Thus Bindra sealed his win against China`s Zhu Qinan and Finland`s Henri Hakkinen by scoring 104.5 points in the final round.
With the Beijing Olympics still on the hopes are on a high as of now.
