A day after his gold medal winning effort at the ISSF World Championship in Zagreb, Croatia, Abhinav Bindra was bound for Germany.
MUMBAI: A day after his gold medal winning effort at the ISSF World Championship in Zagreb, Croatia, Abhinav Bindra was bound for Germany.
No, he wasn’t rushing to win one more medal in yet another tournament but is on his way to the clinic.
The ace shooter has been battling a severe back problem in recent months and is trying to recover. “I’m having a back problem and I’m here in Germany to visit my doctor,” Abhinav told DNA from Munich.
He carried on in Zagreb despite the injury and emerged trumps, the credit for which he gives to the people close to him.
“It feels good to win the world title as I had worked hard for it. Of course a lot of support came from my parents and well wishers,” said Abhinav.
A lot has been written about how dramatic a comeback he made to become the first Indian to win the world title. But Abhinav isn’t too amused by it.
“Winning is not so simple in this sport. It also requires luck. People may feel only winning medals is everything but if you enter the final, then also it is a fantastic performance,” reasoned the 23-year-old, who before his gold medal haul in Zagreb had won two World Cup bronze medals in Germany (in 2001 and 2003).
He did well to make the final at the Athens Olympics with a score of 597 but was unfortunate not to finish with a flourish.
But Abhinav refrains from considering his performance in Athens as a disappointment.
“I did very well at Athens and was on par with everyone else. I scored 597 there and 597 in Zagreb but in Athens I could only finish seventh whereas here I won,” explained the shooter, who has already qualified for the next Olympics in Beijing.
Abhinav is also not happy at some reports that claimed he had almost given up his pet air rifle event. “It is completely baseless. Air Rifle has been my main event for the last 10 years. I took up 50m only a year back,” he said.
Abhinav is also uncertain about where he’ll head next. “I’m not sure because now I’m trying to recover. But wherever it is, I’ll do my best,” he said.
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