Development at grass-roots level key for success: Bindra

MUMBAI : Everyone remembers ace shooter Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics that gave him the distinction of being the first and only individual gold medallist from India. However, behind his remarkable success lied years of hard work apart from access to proper training and infrastructure since his early years.

On Friday, as the legendary marksman interacted with kids during the Mumbai leg of SFA (Sports For All) Championship, he underlined the importance of improving infrastructure at the grass-roots level.

“Development at the grassroots level is very important. Platforms such as SFA and Khelo India targeting young athletes is a very good sign. More work and more investment need to be infiltrated down to the grass-roots level. That will make sure we continue to do well,” he said.

Bindra was also all praise for young shooters like Manu Bhaker, saying with right guidance, India can do really well at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“Great young shooters are coming. We just need to keep working in a focused and holistic way and we can really perform well in the Olympics,” he said.

When asked how the field of shooting has changed in the country since the time he played, the Padma Bhushan awardee said that it has become more popular now and that has also led to tougher competition.

Doping is a major issue affecting athletics in India. Since 2012, more than 100 Indian athletes have failed dope tests. While expressing concern over these figures, Bindra said the country needs to start educating athletes about the repercussion of drug usage at the school level. “When you educate school kids about these things, they don’t take those measures,” the 36-year-old concluded.

47 & 88 in 20.3 overs (Himanshu Singh 6/35, Anurag Singh 4/28) lost Al Barkaat MMI (Eng) 150 in 40.2 overs

Guruji