Beijing Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra and National Rifle Association of India chief Raninder Singh were awarded the International Shooting Sport Federation Diploma of Honour Gold Medal, at the General Assembly meeting of the sport’s governing body in Munich, Germany.
Bindra, India’s only individual Olympic champion, took to Twitter to say he was “extremely humbled” by the honour.
Extremely humbled to receive the @ISSF_Shooting ‘s highest honour the Blue Cross at the General Assembly in Munich today. pic.twitter.com/pNNgQWxT5L
— Abhinav Bindra OLY (@Abhinav_Bindra) November 30, 2018
Singh has also become the first Indian to be elected one of the four vice-presidents of the ISSF.
The 51-year-old former trap shooter bagged 161 votes to occupy the coveted post, while Kevin Kilty of Ireland received 162 votes, USA’s Robert Mitchell got 153 votes and Republic of China’s Wang Yifu was re-elected with 146 votes in Munich.
Last year, Raninder was re-elected president of the NRAI for a four-year term with an overwhelming mandate in Mohali.
In 2014, Raninder got 22 out of 25 votes in the General Assembly meeting at Munich, becoming the first from the country to be elected as a member of the global body representing the sport of shooting.
He was presented with the diploma and medal by the outgoing longest serving president of the ISSF, Olegario Vazquez Rana, who was at the helm for 38 years.