Eight years after his historic gold at Beijing, Abhinav Bindra will once again be the man the country will be banking on to bring home a medal. In fact, when it comes to Bindra, and tales of his unflinching desire, discipline and maniac like training schedules, the hopes are nothing less than a gold.
But what people forget is that the 10m Air Rifle in Olympics is one of those rare events where no winner has ever been able to repeat their heroics. Since the time it was introduced in 1984, it has produced 8 different names as winners. So, there isn’t just one history Bindra will be chasing at Rio, but multiple.
After that watershed year of 2008, Bindra hasn’t been exactly the epitome of consistency but consistency in his sport over such a long stretch of time is asking for way too much. Besides, what Abhinav Bindra has proven himself to be instead over the years is an epitome of unwavering determination. And that’s why, despite a disappointing London Olympics, one can still bank on the Mohali boy to clinch a medal for India.
Also read: Why shooting is India's best medal hope at the Rio Olympics
It was his failure at Athens to win a medal after coming so close that set him on a journey to the gold at Beijing. Hopefully, the London Olympic disappointment will prove one such bend in the road for the 33-year-old.
In an event earlier this year, Bindra had revealed the difference in his approach to London Olympics from Bejing’s grand event of 2008. “In Beijing I needed to win a gold medal, in London I wanted it, in Rio I need it again," Bindra said to journalist Boria Majumdar. These statements show that Bindra will give it his all, as he often has, for the glory on his swansong at Rio.
Bindra’s run up to the Olympics hasn’t exactly been the way he would have liked it to be. The World Cup in Munich saw him finish a disappointing 15th in the men’s 10m air rifle event in May this year. He travelled to Baku to represent India at the ISSF World Cup and although bettered his Munich performance, he once again failed to finish in the top three. He finished seventh, below his country mate Gagan Narang. Both Narang and Bindra lost out to a 16-year-old first-time finalist from Czech Republic, Filip Nepejchal.
Also read: Rio Olympics 2016: Can Abhinav Bindra deliver the glorious swansong his career deserves?
However, barring these two failures, Bindra has had a fairly good last one year. In the 39th Inter-Shoot International shooting competition in the Hague, the Netherlands earlier this year, the shooter won two gold medals, despite being on his path to recovery from flu. It’s important to note, though, that in Hague too, Bindra was far from his best as he fired an uncharacteristic 9.4 and 9.5 on his last two shots.
But the 4 time Olympian was at his best when he won the gold at the Asian AirGun Championships in New Delhi in September 2015 where he shot 208.3 to bag the top prize ahead of Kazakhstan's world number eight Yurkov Yuriy (206.6) and Korea's Yu Jaechul (185.3). Earlier in May 2015, he had returned with a rich haul of three gold and two bronze medals at the International Shooting Competition of Hannover.
In 2014, after his Bronze at the Asian Games, Bindra had announced retirement from competitive shooting and had said that he will become a hobby shooter. However, the 33-year-old later retracted and returned to competitive shooting with an eye on Rio Olympics.
It was the same year that saw him bag a gold at Glasgow Commonwealth Games, raising hopes of an encore of Beijing at Rio. But Bindra had other plans. He played around a bit with the media with his retirement announcement but returned to the range to pursue his Rio dreams.
The reticent athlete has often reiterated that he isn’t the most talented guy going around. He just has one talent and that is to work harder than anyone else. If his preparations at his home are anything to go by, the shooter has worked way too hard to not be rewarded with a medal.
But at the Olympics, it’s just about that one day that matters. And that’s where Bindra’s average form can be discounted and his intense training and discipline and the sheer will can come into play to make him more than just a one-time gold medalist for India.
