Abhinav Bindra: Sportstar Aces a good chance to reflect on India’s sporting culture

Olympic gold medal-winning shooter Abhinav Bindra hailed the power of sport towards the exercise of nation-building ahead of the seventh annual Sportstar Aces Awards.

A member of the jury panel for the honours, Bindra acknowledged a widening of his own perspective in his assessment of the impact athletes have on society.

“When I was an athlete and competing for over two decades, I saw sport from a very narrow perspective. It was about getting the job done and winning. That was my world. Now that I’ve exited my investment in sports, I look at things more dispassionately.

“We’re at a time in our nation’s history where we’re either consuming or playing sport. Both numbers are at historic highs. As a jury then, we always have to look at decisions from this perspective. The exercise this time gave us a chance to recognise and reflect on what India’s sporting culture looks like.”

The 42-year-old focussed on the age-old debate on India’s population-medals correlation.

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“I thought our athletes did well at the Paris Games. These were our most competitive performances ever but that translated into only six medals, which is disappointing to many people, including myself. The important question we all have to ask ourselves is, yes, we are a population of 1.4 billion. But what is the playing population of this country?

“When you dig deep into the playing population of the country and what the number of athletes in this country into organized training is, the number is quite little. Against that background, six medals is not bad. That perspective is required.”

Bindra credited the para sports movement in India and hopes the power of success in the ecosystem is harnessed for societal change.

“I think the great decisions that were made to mainstream para sport, to put para sport on the same pedestal as able-bodied sport, was a positive move. That brought us 29 medals at the Paralympics. India is potentially bidding to host an Olympic Games, but that would also mean hosting the Paralympic Games. How can we make this whole country more accessible in the backdrop of that aspiration? I think that would be the next step.”

The 2025 Sportstar Aces Awards will be held in Mumbai on February 14.