Dhoni and Bindra Conferred the Rank of Lieutenant Colonel

Indian Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra were today conferred the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army by Army Chief General V K Singh here. President Pratibha Patil had approved the grant of honorary commissions to the two illustrious sportspersons on Sep 13 in recognition of their achievements in their respective sports. Dhoni led India to victory in the cricket World Cup earlier this year and was instrumental in taking the team to the top spot in Test rankings for the first time last year. He had also led the team to victory in the inaugural T20 World championship in 2007. Bindra won the only individual Olympic gold medal for India at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.