New Delhi: During his time as an active athlete, training at home was always Plan B for Abhinav Bindra, but India’s lone Olympic individual gold medallist is trying to make the facilities at home match global standards.
“Training in India was always a Plan B for me, but to progress we need to make the facilities at home the Plan A for our athletes,” Bindra said.
Shooter Bindra created history when he claimed the gold medal in 10m air rifle event of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
For long frustrated by the lack of access to high-quality training facilities in his homeland, the champion shooter has been dedicating a lot of his time to developing sport across India, building new facilities in underprivileged communities and bringing elite sports centres to major cities through the Abhinav Bindra Foundation.
“These communities lack access to many of the basic things in life,” he said. “So we funded the construction of playing fields, and provided them with basic equipment.”
“We really wanted to make sure we give access to sport to all the young kids in these areas – so they can learn valuable life lessons, do physical activities to keep them healthy – and also educate both children and parents about the benefits of sport,” he added.
The Abhinav Bindra Targeting Performance centre of excellence is equipped with some revolutionary equipment which combines assessment with training giving athletes and clients real-time feedback while they go through their training.
“It’s really in the last couple of years that we’ve created some cutting-edge infrastructure,” Bindra said. “One of our facilities is in the heart of a city, and it’s working closely with a hospital. So if injury management is required, it’s right there and accessible so the athletes don’t need to travel.”
PTI
