The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has congratulated shooter Abhinav Bindra [Images] for clinching India's first ever individual gold medal at the Olympics [Images] in Beijing [Images] on Monday.

BCCI president Sharad Pawar [Images] announced a cash award of Rs 25 lakh to Bindra on achieving the feat.

"Hearty congratulations to Abhinav Bindra on winning India's first-ever Individual Gold Medal at the Olympics. He has done the country proud. His achievement heralds a new era for Indian sport," Pawar said.

The BCCI has got together with the Ministry of Sports to set up a corpus of Rs 50 crore to support the country's medal prospects, in the disciplines of Swimming, Boxing, Archery, Judo and Wrestling, for the next three years, up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games [Images].

• Congratulate Abhinav Bindra!

This venture apart, the BCCI has been funding Aditya Jagtap (Squash) and Karan Rastogi [Images] (Tennis), as far as their training and participation in international events are concerned.

Incidentally, the BCCI had approved a proposal to support Abhinav Bindra on similar lines, and was in correspondence with him in this regard.

In a congratulatory message, BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla said, "Bindra has done the country proud with his achievement."

Shukla also added that BCCI would continue its endeavour towards the development of Olympic sports in the country.

"The BCCI will continue to support Olympic sports and scout for fresh talent to promote them," he said.

• Images: Bindra wins India's first gold

Bindra became India's first ever individual gold medallist at the Olympics after winning the 10 metre air rifle event in Beijing.