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India's only Olympic gold medalist in shooting, Abhinav Bindra, will take up the role of a mentor at the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) in a bid to step up on the preparations for the Paris Olympics next year. The country's iconic sportsperson said that he will assume the role free of cost.
The appointment comes in the aftermath of India's failure to win a single shooting medal in the last two editions at Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2020. Bindra's role will be to work with air pistol and rifle teams closely.
However, the 2008 Beijing Olympics gold medal winner won't charge any fees from the national federation of the sport. Abhinav Bindra believes that the team is surrounded with many great coaches and his work with the Indian team shooters will be minimal.
"I do have agreed to share my knowledge pro bono (free of cost), when offered to play the role as a professional. I don’t have a day to day role to play in the preparation of the shooters," Abhinav Bindra said, as quoted by Sportstar.
"Already the team has enough experts in terms of national coaches, foreign coaches, High performance Director (HPD), physios, sports scientists, psychologists etc. It may be counter productive to have another expert. However, I will share my knowledge and discuss any specific point, when sought," he added.
"I don’t have the time" - Abhinav Bindra on short mentor role
Abhinav Bindra's gold in men's 10m air rifle event was India's first individual gold medal in the quadrennial showpiece. Bindra is one of the four Indian shooters to finish on the podium in the history of the Olympics. Speaking about his limited mentorship role with the team, the 41-year-old:
"It is not my calling, nor can I do justice by being involved full time with the preparation of the shooters, day in day out. Being occupied with so many things, I don’t have the time," he said (via Sportstar).
Vijay Kumar (silver in men's 25m rapid pistol) and Gagan Narang (bronze in 10m air rifle) are the last medal winners for the country at the London Olympics.
India has booked 13 Olympic quotas in shooting thus far. The NRAI will conduct shooting trials for all eligible participants in May in New Delhi and Bhopal.
