Shooting has flourished in the country over the last decade and now boasts an unmatched "depth of talent" in the sport, remarked the legendary Abhinav Bindra. Manu Bhaker led the way with an unprecedented double bronze as Indian shooters soared to a new high, returning with their best-ever haul of three medals from the Paris Olympics. "The depth of talent available in the sport of shooting doesn't exist in any other sport in this country," Bindra, the first Indian to win an individual gold medal at the Olympics in Beijing 2008, told PTI Video in an exclusive interview at the Artemis Hospital here on Friday.
"There are so many sporting athletes performing at the national level and at the world level. This clearly shows the amount of progress the sport has made in the last decade or so." India's achievement at Paris Games also ended a 12-year drought at the Olympics, with Manu, Sarabjot Singh, and Swapnil Kusale securing three bronze medals.
"There was a bit of a lull where in two Olympics we didn't win any medals but that is part and parcel of the sport. There are big learnings that the athletes have had, the federation made which resulted in good results in Paris," Bindra said.
The 42-year-old further stressed the importance of strategic planning, attention to detail, and continuous evolution of the ecosystem to sustain the momentum in future Olympic performances.
"I hope that the momentum continues, and the strategic planning continues because I think the performance at the Olympics has a lot to do with the detailing of planning.
"Little things matter a lot, they need to be taken care of. I hope that the ecosystem continues to evolve and keeps putting its best foot forward."
Shooting CWG absence not permanent
The 2026 Commonwealth Games has dropped shooting, hockey, cricket, wrestling from its roster in a big blow to India's medal prospects at Glasgow.
Pointing out that the decision to reduce the scale of the Games was made for sustainability, Bindra said this is "not permanent" and hopes that shooting will return in the future.
"The whole Commonwealth movement is going through a difficult time, many hosts have withdrawn which has resulted in many problems in the Commonwealth movement," Bindra said.
"The organisation then came up with a solution to keep the Olympic movement alive, the solution lies in sustainability and keeping the whole programme of the games very small and that is what resulted in shooting not having a presence in the next Commonwealth Games.
"But that is something not permanent and I hope that Shooting as a sport does make a comeback. I don't think this is an era of boycott, it was something back in the 80's and we have moved on from that.
"I don't think that it is an option, the talent in the sport of shooting is immense and the sport can continue to perform as medal winners and athletes who are performing at a great level.
"I don't have any doubts that we will continue to perform better and keep improving our medal count at the Olympics," Bindra said.
Manu can become one of the greatest
Bindra further said Manu has the potential to win multiple Olympic medals and establish herself as one of India's greatest shooters.
"Manu is a very young athlete and has a wonderful career ahead of her, the world is like a canvas for her. She had an incredible Olympics in Paris.
"She has a tremendous amount of character, and a lot of mental fortitude to not just be an athlete but a great athlete.
"She has the ingredients to continue to perform and win multiple medals at every level, including the Olympics. If she continues to put in the work then there are tremendous possibilities ahead of her." Bindra also hailed Manu's resillience after returning empty-handed at her debut Olympics in Tokyo.
"I think what was wonderful to see was her resilience after she had a very difficult Games (Olympics) in Tokyo. To come back and show resilience and persistence, turn it around and win two medals shows she has a tremendous amount of character, and a lot of mental fortitude to not just be an athlete but a great athlete," Bindra concluded.
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