"The Depth Of Talent...": Abhinav Bindra Points Out What Separates Shooting From Other Sports In India

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."

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