The Union Sports Minister Ajay Maken was crisp in his praise as he expressed his confidence that the photo of Abhiinav Bindra would not be replaced from the corridors of the Sports Ministry for the next hundred years, as he released the book of the Olympic champion, A shot at history — here on Thursday.
“Abhinav has achieved this feat without much support from government or anyone else. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to excel in life,” said Maken.
The book written by sports journalist Rohit Brijnath and published by Harper Collins, was discussed in a lively fashion with the authors by journalist Sharda Ugra, who incidentally had told Bindra in Athens in 2004 when he was shattered after a disastrous final, that his time would come.
Bindra said that he had to try everything, especially after the failure in the Athens Games — that taught him that there was no guarantee in sport no matter how well you do everything right — to give himself a chance, particularly so as he was not talented.
“You have to learn to be perfect on an imperfect day,” Bindra said.
World champion in trap, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, in his light hearted fashion said that he had to try ‘Yak's milk' to become an Olympic champion, as it was the only thing that he had not done as compared to Bindra.
The World and Olympic champion, Bindra said that he would be happy to give the shotgun marksman the supply, as it did not work for him!
Manavjit's father Gurbir Sandhu, the president of Punjab Rifle Association, read out an article that he had written in The Hindu in 2001, that the then 18-year-old Bindra had the potential to become an Olympic champion, that was received with a warm round of applause from the audience.
Though he said that India had to finds its own path for success in sports, Bindra said that China was a good model to emulate, though a democratic country like India cannot expect five-year-old kids to be taken to distant training centres to be moulded into champions.
“China won its first gold in 1984 in shooting. There is a lot of collaboration between China and India now. I hope the Chinese give out their secrets,” said Bindra.
Published - October 28, 2011 02:04 am IST
