Professional shooter Abhinav Bindra is making the most of his post-retirement life, calling this phase "earning a living." "I don't miss being an athlete," he said, "I don't miss the shooting range at all." Retiring from the sport, the 34 year old is yet to convert his shooting range at home into a vegetable garden as he had said after the final at the Rio Olympics. However, he doesn't visit it either.
Throughout his career, Bindra has stressed on sports science. "The role of sports science, sport medicine is incredibly important in modern-day sport. We can't do without it. I don't think the whole concept is actually strong enough in our country," he had said after returning from Rio. Practicing what he preached, his first venture after calling it off, is a high performance studio he opened in Mohali along with Italian firm TecnoBody. Calling it "revolutionary", Bindra said, "We are -30 when it comes to sports science. This is revolutionary. So it's strange it's there in this country. It's a misfit." The Italy-imported machines will help an athlete trani and make assessments using real-time data. Each equipment comes with an in-built 3D cameras and motion sensors along with digital screens. Those using these, can check 3D imaging of his or her own body while working out; this helps understand body balance, pressure points, and other functional aspects in real time. Bindra's studio comes with a mind room for brain mapping, a Pilate room, and an Electric Muscle Simulation Centre.
"Talent is there in our country. But unless they train in the right and efficient manner, there is no chance (of winning a medal). Really, because the world is so advanced. If you train inefficiently, you develop patterns which are inefficient. Then, when you compete, you are just praying to win. This helps you develop a right pattern. It focuses on quality of training, not just quantity," he said. The Beijing gold medallist got acquainted to the technology in 2014, in Munich. He said it helped him improve his stability and balance in ashort period.
Bindra intends to open his centre for Indian athletes at zero cost. "If something is presented to them which will improve their performance, why wouldn't they embrace it? If someone told me to jump in the well, and that would guarantee me a medal at the Olympics, then I would jump into the well," he said. He added, "I don't want to do it myself. The idea is to get more people involved and open more such micro-centres."
