Abhinav Bindra exclusive interview: 'Everyone says we're a 1.4 billion population. But what is the playing population?'

Indian shooting legend Abhinav Bindra believes that despite the country having a population of 1.4 billion people, the “playing population” of India remains significantly less.

Bindra was speaking in the aftermath of India’s 2024 Paris Olympics campaign, where the nation won just six medals (one silver and five bronze), despite much being expected from a majority of the athletes.

And on another six occasions in the Paris Games, Indian athletes endured fourth-place finishes. Had those fourth-place finishes been converted into medals, India’s medals tally might very well have gone into double digits.

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“I think what is important is everybody to say that we are 1.4 billion population, the world’s largest population. But I think the most important question we have to ask is what is the playing population of India? And my understanding on my assumption would be that it is substantially it’s a very less number. And I think that it’s something that we need to change and we need to really focus on how sports can play a larger role towards nation building,” Abhinav Bindra told Rupha Ramani during an exclusive interaction on the First Sports show.

India’s shuttlers returned home without an Olympic medal from Paris. Lakshya Sen reached the semi-finals of the men’s singles before losing to Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen. He then had an opportunity to win bronze in the playoff match, but lost to Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia, despite winning the first game.

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A disappointing campaign from India’s shuttlers led to the legendary Prakash Padukone saying that they needed to become “more responsible and accountable”. Bindra echoed Padukone’s views.

“Appreciate his perspective, saying that what he said is anything wrong? I mean, I think there are two elements which I think one element is that — sport can never be scripted. There is always going to be the element of grey of getting the job done. I think said that I agree with him that accountability is important,” he said.

“It’s absolutely critical. And the athletes do need to be accountable here. As with everybody else, I think when when we when we go out there, it is it is a team. And I think everybody involved is part of that. And, you know, you win collectively and you lose collectively. So, you know, I don’t think there’s always the time to reflect back,” the 41 year-old added.

‘Not disappointed’

Abhinav Bindra said that the Paris Olympics was a “mixed bag” for the Indian contingent but at the same time, he wasn’t disappointed with how the athletes performed. “No, I’m not disappointed. I’m always an athlete, which conditions with hope. So I remain hopeful. I would consider the Olympics in Paris to be a mixed bag of sorts for India.

“I think our athletes did very well. I think the one thing we have to acknowledge that the performances of our Olympic team, that was probably the best ever in the sense that we were more competitive in a wide variety of disciplines. Our athletes showed a good fight and that also is success, it may not have translated into medals as yet,” the 2008 Beijing Olympics gold medallist continued.

When asked on what could be done to enhance athletes’ performance, Bindra maintained a neutral stance. “Well, I don’t know, frankly, in the sense that, you know, I’m not involved in the day-to-day performance of athletes. I’m not there involved in day-to-day coordination. So for me to say something is as good as being an armchair critic. I can only make some larger points here, which are I think we can always better fine tune.

“Indian sport is also complicated in nature because there are so many stakeholders involved. There is the government, there is Sports Authority of India, there is the National Olympic Committee, the IOA. Then there are national sports federation, there are private enterprises, foundations working directly for the athletes. So there are many touchpoints which sometimes makes things complicated. And I think perhaps it’s time to ensure even a higher degree of coordination,” he added.

Bindra felt that competitiveness shown by the Indian athletes were one of the biggest positives from Paris.

“I won’t name any of the six individuals who ended up with medals. They are all heroes, they have done magnificently. But I think the biggest positive was, was that our athletes on the whole were far more competitive than ever.

“I haven’t seen an Olympic team from India, being so competitive around. But does that stop us? Is the next question, is that good enough? Probably not. Yeah. But, you know, you also have to acknowledge of what it’s done with all around. I think the athletes and general performance in terms of competitiveness across wide disciplines was great and it was more competitive than ever,” stated the four-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist.

Watch the full interview here: