Only India is making progress in shooting, opines Abhinav Bindra

Independent India’s first individual Olympics gold-medallist Bindra is now an International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Athletes Committee member and he has also started his own foundation  - Abhinav Bindra Foundation and sports science centre - Abhinav Bindra Targeting Performance, which is spread in Mohali, Delhi, Bhubaneshwar, and Bengaluru. The shooter, who is working for the development of the sport as well as the performance of other sportspersons, has said that the game of shooting is taking a big leap in India. 

“The success of Indian shooting has been phenomenal in the past few years. The number of young shooter we have today and the way they have been performing is amazing. The work which has gone in the last 6-7 years is now showing results. The junior programme was put into focus and it is heartening to see the national federation had the foresight to take this forward,” Bindra told TOI. 

“The success is so huge, to a level that it is becoming a headache to manage so many shooters at a time. The selection has also become tougher because there are so many young shooters doing so well. I can say that India is the only country in the world which is making progress in shooting, all other countries have stagnated.”

Bindra is hopeful that India will bag more medals in the upcoming Olympics but has asserted that the participant needs to be increased to increase the number of medals in the sporting extravaganza.

“I do hope that changes in Tokyo. I wish more and more athletes qualify for the Games and the representation increases at the Olympics. Once it is done, there are more chances of our athletes winning medals and finding that one percent extra edge that is needed to win the gold. I went into extreme ways to get the best and achieve that one percent, so I hope others get it too,” explained Bindra.