Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra revealed that training at home always remained a secondary option during his time as an active athlete.
“Training in India was always a plan B for me, but to progress we need to make the facilities at home the plan A for our athletes,” Bindra was quoted as saying by Olympic.org.
Bindra created history when he clinched gold in 10m air rifle event of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Frustrated by the lack of access to high-quality training facilities in his homeland, the 36-year-old has been dedicating his time to develop sport across India, building new facilities and bringing elite sports centres to major cities.
“These communities lack access to many of the basic things in life,” he said. “So, we funded the construction of playing fields, and provided them with basic equipment.
“We really wanted to make sure we give access to sport to all the young kids in these areas so they can learn valuable life lessons, do physical activities to keep them healthy and also educate both children and parents about the benefits of sport.”
The Abhinav Bindra Targeting Performance centre of excellence is equipped with some revolutionary equipment, which combines assessment with giving athletes real-time feedback while they go through their training.
“It’s really in the last couple of years that we’ve created some cutting-edge infrastructure,” Bindra said. “One of our facilities is in the heart of a city, and it’s working closely with a hospital. So if injury management is required, it’s right there and accessible so the athletes don’t need to travel.”
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