Bhubaneswar: With already Apurvi Chandela and Anjum Moudgil having qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Games, Olympic gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra feels confident of India’s chances in the upcoming World Cup which the country is hosting from Wednesday.
“I think it’s very important for the Indian shooters because it has quota places at stake. We have so many young shooting athletes doing very well over the last few years and it’s a great opportunity for them,” Bindra said on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Abhinav Bindra Targeting Performance (ABTP) centre here at the Kalinga Stadium hockey complex Monday.
“This World Cup will also give our shooters an opportunity to perform at their home range where they are used to competing. I am looking forward to the next week and hopefully we have good and interesting results from the youngsters.”
Bindra shot to gold at 2008 Beijing Olympics in 10m Air Rifle – the only player to have an individual Olympic gold medal – and according to the 36-year-old the sport has grow a lot 10 years down the line.
“Shooting has developed tremendously over these 10 years. The numbers of young shooters have done brilliantly at the global stage. When I started competing, at my first national we had 200 participants, but now you see there are around 7000 shooters taking part. So the sport has grown fantastically,” the four-time CWG gold medallist added.
Shooters like Heena Sidhu, young Anish Bhanwala, Manu Bhaker, Mehuli Sarkar are performing brilliantly for the past one year and when asked who hold the chance to shoot a medal at the 2020 Olympics, Bindra sounded optimistic.
“It’s difficult to say now but a lot of shooters are doing well now. It will be unfair for me to name anyone, we have five events and I am hopeful we will do well,” he added.
Speaking about ABTP, Bindra said, “This is a very holistic centre and by far the most advanced centre in the county that I have ventured into. We have integrated the best methods so that the athletes have a very scientific way of training and we can help them in every possible way.”
However, Bindra was hopeful that very soon the state will get results in terms of athletes performing at highest levels.
“I can’t give you the numbers but hopefully it will be very soon. The way all the athletes are developing; all steps are going in right direction. Basically with sports performance, it’s not a one day process; you need to give time to it and am very happy to see way things are put into place,” the star gentleman signed off.
