Abhinav Bindra will shoot in Pune Nationals

Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, who recently hinted at ending his career as a professional shooter, will participate in the National Shooting Championships in Pune this year in his favourite 10m Air Rifle individual event.
National Rifles Association of India (NRAI) is yet to finalise the dates for the tournament.

"I am definitely going to participate in the Nationals. This is an important event," Bindra told dna on the sidelines of a felicitation function here recently.

It has come after Bindra's tweeting a day before his event at the Asian Games in Incheon last month that "this is going to be his last day as professional shooter".

This led speculations over Bindra's participation in the 2016 Rio Olympics. However, he still has the same reply to this query. "As I said, I will be a hobby shooter now. I'm going to shoot only twice a week. What else do you want me to say?" was his reply.

So, what about the Rio Games?
"I will shoot for the next season. I will go to the World Cups in order to get an Olympic berth," said Bindra.

Indian shooters will have four World Cups and Asian Shooting Championships in November next year to earn a quota place for the Rio Games.