Abhinav Bindra became India's first individual Gold winner at the Olympics in 2008, when he shot a near-perfect 10.8 on his last shot in the men’s 10m air rifle shooting event in Beijing.

Bindra, who is currently in Paris, was an official torchbearer for this year's Olympics which kick-off officially later today (26 July). 

In conversation with Manifest, Bindra was bullish about India's chances at having its best-ever year in terms of medals won.  India's performance of seven-metals in Tokyo was its best ever return.

"I think we will better our performance from Tokyo. In 2021, my sport of shooting didn’t give any medals. I am hopeful we will get a few from it this year. That will help with the overall tally and I’m hoping for double-digits from the Games this year."

Bindra also believes the Games will get the much-needed fillip in 2028 with cricket entering the Olympics in Los Angeles.

When asked whether cricket will take the limelight away from the traditional Olympians, Bindra said:

"Every country has a particular sport which is more popular than the others. In our country that is cricket and I’m fine with it. Every sport needs to build value and capture the imagination of the public at large and cricket has been able to do so. It is important for other sports and those administering it to market their sport in a more effective manner which will lead to more opportunities for athletes. I think cricket being part of the Olympics will bring a fillip to the Indian Olympic movement. For example, broadcast rights for the Olympics have been sold for an ‘x’ amount of money so far, when LA comes along, that number is certainly going to become bigger so the revenue share for the Indian Olympic Association will also increase substantially."

Read the full interview with Bindra in the August issue of Manifest. Pre-book your August copy here.