India celebrated its first individual Olympic gold medallist yesterday, offering the shooter the accolades of a nation desperate for Olympic glory, lots of cash and a free lifetime pass to ride the railways.
Abhinav Bindra won gold in the 10-metre air rifle, ending decades of Olympic misery for India, which is the world's second-most populous nation but a perennial underachiever at the Games.
Bindra's home state of Punjab awarded him 10 million rupees ($253,000).
India's Railway Minister Lalu Prasad announced that Bindra would get a gold pass to go along with his gold medal -- letting him and a companion ride the railways free for the rest of his life.
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