Fresh from his gold-winning feat at the WorldChampionship, Abhinav Bindra sought to bring the spotlight on shooting,saying it should be regarded as the number one sport in the country as it bringsthe largest number of medals.
"In my opinion, shooting is the number one sportin the country. We have had Olympic medallists, world champions and world recordholders in the sport. No other game can match the success achieved by Indianshooters," Bindra said on his arrival from Munich, Germany.
The Chandigarh marksman won India's first ever goldmedal at the ongoing shooting World Championship in Zagreb, Croatia, in the 10mair rifle category.
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He also claimed a quota place for the Beijing Olympicsby capturing the top spot at the elite event.
Claiming that the country had a very good bunch ofshooters at the moment, Bindra said more laurels could be expected in comingmajor championships.
"We have a very talented group of shooters atpresent. The sport is one in which India is very strong. We always have theconfidence that we can win," he said.
"We are on our way now. The important thing is tokeep going." Bindra won the gold in Zagreb despite a persistent back injurythat has dogged him for a long time. But he did not let it affect hisperformance adversely.
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"I pushed the injury to the back of my mind andconcentrated on the competition. It did not affect me during shooting," hesaid.
However, Bindra went straight to Germany after his golden feat to seek medicaladvice.
"My main priority now is to recover and get mybody into shape and I will be on rehabilitation for three months," he said.
"It is a muscular problem. I will go to Germanyagain to consult the doctors and would go for surgery if they recommend it. Butthey have not advised so yet."
Bindra shot 699.7 (597102.7) in Croatia towin the gold to qualify for his third Olympics at Beijing in 2008. Thequalification score was identical to the one he achieved at the Athens Olympicsin 2004 where he could manage only a seventh place. But the 23-year-old wasundeterred.
"Shooting is a very individual and competitivesport and performances and results may vary from day to day. You need things togo your way. They did so for me in Croatia unlike at Athens," he said.
Describing compatriot Manavjit Singh Sandhu's goldwinning effort in the individual trap event at Zagreb as"great," Bindra said that with such shooters - he included GaganNarang as well - India had a great chance of a rich medal haul at Beijing.
However, he said that he had not finalised his trainingschedule and itinerary leading up to the Olympics and it would be decided in duecourse.
On a personal note, the ace shooter said it felt goodto prove critics wrong. Some of them had said that he received the RajivGandhi Khel Ratna award earlier than he deserved in 2001.
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"I will now try to repeat my success at Beijing intwo years time," he said.
PTI
