Abhinav Bindra backs his decision of retirement before Tokyo Olympics

 

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Abhinav Bindra was present in Kolkata on Saturday. Image Source: XtraTime

Kolkata: India’s only Olympic gold medal winner Abhinav Bindra on Saturday said he was always positive about Indian sport and the country has the power to become a great sporting nation in near future.

“I see a significant change in attitudes, in recognition and support of athletic journeys, a commitment to better governance, high class infrastructure and knowledge. It is now for us to bring this all together and I genuinely believe that each one of us has a role to play,” the chairman of the Target Olympic Podium committee said during the inaugural Routledge Sports Lecture at Fanattic Sports Museum at Eco-space today.

According to the 2008 Beijing Olympic champion, India has high chance to do well in Tokyo Olympics.

“I don’t think we missed the bus for Tokyo. I have a lot of belief with my athletes for Tokyo. I’m an athlete and I’m conditioned to hope, and I’m hopeful. But obviously, but if you are looking at larger picture, and make changes that go down to grassroots level it’s going to take time and not overnight.

“We can’t really make many changes for Tokyo. We have a system in place and a lot of things in place, it’s a question of implementing. It would be mistake make few changes, as it takes time to streamline. you can’t really change anything but implement.

When asked about his retirement after the Rio Olympics, Bindra said,” I have taken the right decision. I have no repentance that I have retired before the Tokyo Olympics.”

A member of the Sports Minisitry’s task force Bindra said they need to start planning for future.

“But if you think to change something miraculously overnight for 2020, that too in our country, it may be a little too optimistic. Larger change can happen long term. No we need to start the ball rolling now. In 2020 we have to make best use of what we have, perhaps to try to implement things better, but beyond that we can hope to bring in larger systematic changes which will take time to develop. That work needs to start now.”

Speaking about the Future of High Performance Sports in India, Bindra said they must adopt a scientific approach to unearth talents, taking a cue from the West.

“Unearthing talents has to be a scientific process. You can’t just look at results as the parameters of success at the a young age.

I was hopeless as a 12-year-old but I went on to win a gold medal in Olympics. You have to go about in a scientific way to identify talents.

“Western countries do with a lot of scientific testing — of the kid’s gene, body structure, what sport would he be best suited for… We need to bring those systems into our country. Everything has to evolve around sports science and medicine. If you want high level of success those are factors that cannot be ignored.”

Bindra, who overcame serious neurological condition, epilepsy, and went on to win gold said how he helped from high performance in his career spanning 22 years, 180 medals, five Olympics, three Olympic finals and one gold medal.

“Athens 2004 was a wake-up call. In perhaps the most defining incident of my career I came a disappointing 7th in the Olympic final after shooting what I thought was the perfect game. Only much later did I find out that the lane position I was allotted had a loose tile underfoot.”

“Months later, I had two obvious choices – one, quit the sport or, two, carry on and accept the incident as ‘bad luck’. I chose a third and it defined me. I chose the quest for Adaptability – to try and be perfect on the imperfect day.”

“…It worked for me and came to my rescue even at Rio when my carefully-chosen sight broke minutes before my event. I was able to remain composed and made it to fourth,” he recalled his heartbreaking loss which became the final shot of his career.

Adapatibiliy, balance and hunger are three components and he said he was immensely helped by Technobody.

“With Tecnobody I found a machine which tells me the same about my body. I had built the skill to tell if my rifle is imbalanced by a gram…

“When I stood on the round metal plate on Tecnobody’s stability device, a string of sensors measured the minute oscillations in my body. It told me where my centre of gravity was and which way my body was leaning. It helped me fine-tune my stability with real-time feedback.”

With most of his lecture about the rigours of a high performance, Bindra further remembered how a misalignment of the upper and lower sides of one’s jaw contributed to bio-mechanical errors and the misalignment of his body.

“So I visited a dentist, who X-rayed my jaw and made a splint for me to wear while sleeping and training. A sort of plastic denture. The result was incredible!

“When I wore the splint the range of motion in my neck improved by 15-20 degrees and this helped me perfect my alignment. I wouldn’t have believed this until I experienced it.”

“You could call my story one of ‘high performance’. That is a term used quite liberally in elite sport,” Bindra concluded.