Former World and Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra had a lively session with the national shooting squad, reflecting on his Olympic experience and giving invaluable advice.
In a session organised by the High Performance Director (HPD), Dr. Pierre Beauchamp, at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, the shooters could get a lot of insight about the path to excellence at the highest level.
“Success is not a one-off event. Doing the right things consistently day in and day out is what leads to success”, said Abhinav, in his opening address.
When queried about self-discipline, Abhinav asked the shooters to be brutally honest with themselves every day, and answer the question whether they did their best.
“If the answer is yes, you will have the results eventually”, he said.
Abhinav was frank to concede that he would have chosen a slightly different path, if he had to plan his career all over again.
“I wish I had a more balanced life and could have had other hobbies. I almost de-humanised my pursuit. I would definitely tell myself to be kinder to myself. I feel that I didn’t pat myself on the back often after I had achieved the goals”, said Abhinav.
When asked about his way of countering the Olympic expectations, Abhinav said, “you have to increase your self-awareness as a shooter. The changes that are happening around you, you have to acknowledge them”.
Abhinav hit the nail on the head when he explained that by the time he reached his third Olympics in Beijing, he had detached himself totally from the outcome.
“I was totally focused on the process. I wanted to do my best with every single shot. I never thought of winning or losing. I managed to stay in the present moment, because truth is in the present”, he said.
India’s first ever individual Olympic gold medallist, who was joined by javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra in the Tokyo Olympics, Abhinav asked the shooters to challenge themselves in training to do better in competition.
The shooters will leave in batches for equipment tuning and ammunition testing in Europe. Three shooters are scheduled to compete in women’s air pistol in the last Olympic qualification event in Rio, as only one quota place is left to be won for India in pistol. The shotgun team will compete in the final Olympic qualification event in Doha, Qatar, looking to secure four quota places in all for Paris, one each in trap and skeet for men and women.
Thereafter the rifle and pistol shooters will have a set of four Olympic selection trials in the Capital.
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