Beijing is past, I have to start afresh in London: Bindra

DELHI, INDIA – OCTOBER 05: Gold medal winners in the Mens 10m Air Rifle Pairs, Abhinav Bindra (l) and Gagan Narang of India pose with their medals at Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range during day two of the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games on October 5, 2010 in Delhi, India.

London, July 26 – Golden boy of Indian shooting Abhinav Bindra is not ready to bask in the glory of Beijing Olympics, where he won a gold medal, and wants to start afresh at the London Games.

“Looking in the past has no bearing, I don’t want to soak myself with the thoughts of Beijing. I won a gold four years ago in two hours of shooting. That is over and done with,” said Bindra.

“What happened in the past is past. I had medal in Beijing but at the moment I have nothing from London, so I have nothing to lose. So, why should I be under pressure,” Abhinav said in an interaction at the Games village.

Asked about his Olympics journey so far, Bindra smiles and says: “Look, this is my fourth Olympics. I am greying, look at my hair. It was very exciting in Sydney (2000), in Athens in 2004 I shattered the Olympic record and came very close to winning and in 2008 at Beijing I think I did a fairly decent job.”

He agreed with a view that in his sport, shooter competes with himself/herself.

“Yes, that is my view too. When you are shooting you are too focused and concentrating on your job. At the end of the day, you have to see that your best is better than others’,” said Bindra.

To a question whether he was satisfied with his achievements, the soft spoken shooter said: “Well, one is always striving to do better. I was World Champion and Olympic Champion, but still I always try to better my own performances.”