I am yesterday's man looking for next champion: Bindra

Vijayanagar: Labelling himself as ‘yesterday’s man’, Olympic gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra today said that the country should focus on finding the next champion instead of talking about his feat.

Bindra had scripted history by winning the 10 metre Air Rifle event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games as he became the first Indian to win an individual gold medal in Olympics. “In sports, yesterday never counts, I am yesterday’s man looking ahead for the next Olympic champion,” Bindra said at the launch of JSW’s Inspire Institute of Sports here.

“We should look ahead at finding the next gold medal, the facility created right here is the playground for the next emerging champion,” he added. Talking about the importance of facing failure before achieving success, the 35-year-old Bindra said one should concentrate on the boring and mundane part of being an athlete.

“I had one good day. People should also talk about the miserable days I had. In an athlete’s life, there will be failures. It is important to acknowledge that failure and use it to propel yourself towards success,” he said. “Failures are part of our lives. We should hence focus on the mundane and the daily grind,” he added. 

In a bid to inspire the youth to aim for gold in the upcoming Asian Games and 2020 Olympics, Bindra had last week released a video commemorating the 10th anniversary of his historic gold-winning performance.