Gagan Narang has won the first medal for India at London 2012, a bronze in the 10m air rifle event. Narang thus finally stood on the Olympic Games podium at age 29, after going medal-less at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.

Abhinav Bindra, winner of the gold at Beijing in this very event, failed to qualify for the final round of 10 shots each after ending up 16th in the preliminary round. In Beijing, the positions were reversed - Bindra qualified for the final and went on to win a gold, Narang missed the final round by just one point.

“It’s taken a load off my chest,” Narang, whose mantelpiece had medals from practically all major events from the world of shooting except the Olympics, said later.

In the nerve-wracking final round of 10 shots each for the eight finalists, Narang scored 103.1 out of a maximum possible 109 points. Added to his qualification score of 598 (from six series of 10 shots each), his total became 701.1 - .4 of a point shy of silver medallist Niccolo Campriani of Italy. Alin George Moldoveanu of Rumania took the gold medal with a total of 702.1.

Narang had qualified for the final in the joint fourth position. He began the final with an impressive 10.7, which temporarily put him in the second position; he fell to fourth with a second shot of 9.7 before four straight 10s took him to second.

Two 9s followed to again set him back to fourth and then third. But Narang kept his nerve, got 21 in his final two shots to cling to the third position and assure himself and India of a medal.

Bindra’s hopes ended in disaster in the sixth and last series, in which he shot 97. This included three 9s in four shots, which dropped him from the sixth to 14th position. He finished 16th overall with 594 points. “I’m really happy for Gagan,” Bindra said. Bindra wanted to go in and watch the final and cheer for Gagan but wasn’t allowed in because, he was told, there was no seats vacant. “But I knew it was close. Great performance by him,” Bindra added.