KOLKATA: For India’s only individual Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, the 2008 Bejing Games is history as he has now set his sights on this year’s quadrennial extravanganza in London.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a promotional programme at Udayan in Barrackpore on the outskirts of the city, Bindra said India’s prospects in shooting looked bright this time around.
“Past is history, everybody has forgotten it. I know past was great but it does not help me now. I can’t replicate my past. I am living in the present. We have the highest participation this time. Each individual is a champion and I am hoping for the best,” the gold medal winner in the 10-metre air rifle event in the Beijing Games said of India’s 11-member contingent.
Bindra said it would be a first time experience in London and he would go there next month to assess the conditions.
The four-time Olympic further said that the Abhinav Bindra Foundation, came up in 2009, was going in the right direction.
“Medal is something you hang on the wall. It’s an outcome of a journey, a struggle. There is a lot of things behind winning a medal. My foundation is focusing on these things.
“I’ve started the foundation to develop the sport at the grass root level which is a neglected area. I am really passionate about the sport,” he said, while launching an Olympic theme song, “Khelo Bharat Khelo” in association with British high commission.
The event is part of a four-leg Great British Sports Festival launched in the run up to the Olympics.
From here it will go to Mumbai (March 7), Chennai (March 13-16) and conclude in Delhi with an Olympics send-off on March 18, with 100 days to go for London 2012.