Chinese GM Wei Yi: India’s first individual Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra made a special appearance at the FIDE World Cup 2025 and made the ceremonial first move in the opening game of the final between Chinese GM Wei Yi and GM Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan here on Monday.
The 43-year-old, who bagged the 10m Air Rifle gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and gave every Indian sportsperson the belief that they can also aim for world glory, was in Goa to witness some top-quality chess action and also tried his hand at playing the sport that was invented in India by playing a couple of games with a FIDE official.
Even though Bindra retired as a player after the 2016 Rio Olympics, his dedication to sporting excellence has led to the formation of the Abhinav Bindra Foundation, which identifies and nurtures the country’s future sports stars with a focus on implementing Global Best Practices of sports science in the country.
