Sports - Abhinav Bindra Interview

A dozen security guards, meticulous verification of visitors and a 500-yard drive to a palatial farmhouse brings you to the plush environs where India's sole Olympic gold medallist has been groomed. Abhinav Bindra is waiting in the drawing room, casually dressed and composed as usual. The champion is apprehensive about 'another interview' but gets down to it anyway. Excerpts... Is life back to normal? Very slowly life is getting back to normal. It's been a week now and the number of calls are dying down. Have you been approached by any corporates for endorsements? No corporates have approached me as of now. But I'm open to the idea. People spoke of your Zen-like calm after winning the gold. Are you into meditation? I think shooting itself is such a meditative sport that you don't need to practice any other meditation. As for my calm, I am like that only. I don't make a drama of things. And the moment of victory was so fleeting that I was sucked up in it. Compared to cricketers who rejoice when they score a century, your reaction was quite mild... I am the way I am. Plus, it won't be right to compare cricket and shooting - cricket is a much more aggressive game while shooting is all about internalizing everything. But you must be feeling on top of the world. Whom do you credit your success to? It's not that I am not feeling anything or am not happy. I have practised 12 long years for this and now it has finally happened. Besides my own practice, it's been the financial and moral support of my parents; Mittal foundation financed a big chunk of my training and even the state machinery and Olympic association have a share. With all that, there is a certain element of luck involved in winning a medal. I may have shot better in Athens but this time, I was lucky. Don't you think you should have stuck on in Beijing to cheer other Indian participants? If I were there, I would have become the centre of attraction. They all deserve their moments of glory. And what could have I done there? I can't coach boxers and wrestlers; I can't give them tips. In fact, I had decided much earlier that once my job was over, I'd be back home. In Athens you shot from an unstable floor. In Beijing, your gun was reportedly tampered with. Do you think somebody tried to scuttle your chances? I can't say that someone tampered with my gun but gunsights were altered from the qualifying round. For a moment I thought it was all gone. Athens came back to haunt me. It took quite a bit of self-motivation to regain composure. In the end, it all turned out well. Now all I want to say is that I am very fortunate. The whole country celebrated the first gold for India... Why do you think we couldn't manage one earlier? That's exactly what I've been thinking. My win surely didn't come easy but it is a reality. Winning a gold is certainly not unachievable. It does happen, it has happened to me. Do you consider it strange that Indian sport bodies and government is celebrating your personal feat although they had very little to do with it? I am happy everyone is celebrating my individual win as their own. The state did fund a part of my training and Mittal foundation helped me; I certainly can't forget that. What's your next ambition? I really don't have an answer for that. I haven't resumed my training as yet. I have stopped believing in this planning situation. I'm certainly thinking of London 2012 but right now, I am living the moment. Had you not been a shooter, which other game would you have liked to excel at? I tried tennis for a while, couldn't do well. My tryst with shooting happened accidentally and it's so addictive that I've been hooked ever since. Who are your favourite sportspersons? I like to watch Sachin Tendulkar and Roger Federer play but I really don't take anyone as role model. I want to be like myself.