Abhinav Bindra

Abhinav Bindra’s journey to becoming the first Indian to win an individual Olympic Gold (Beijing, 2008), and the first Indian to win a World Championship Gold (2006) in Air Rifle shooting is an example of a single-minded quest for perfection. His victory at Beijing was not just a personal one; it also broke a sporting barrier that had haunted the nation for a Century.

Born in Dehradun, he won over a 150 individual medals in a career that lasted over twenty years. He fired his last shot at in 2016 at the Rio Olympics, where he finished 4th.

Recipient of the Arjuna Award and the youngest recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Mr. Bindra was also conferred with India’s 3rd highest civilian award, The Padma Bhushan, in 2009. He was also honored with the title of (Hony.) Lt. Col. in the Territorial Army. For his exceptional services to the Sport of shooting, he was awarded with the Blue Cross in 2018 by the International Shooting Sport Federation, which is the ISSF’s highest honor.

Post his retirement from sport, Mr. Bindra found the Abhinav Bindra Targeting Performance (ABTP) facilities for Physical Excellence under Abhinav Futuristics Pvt. Ltd. The ABTP uses Sports Science and Technology to empower athletes with Data Driven Training, through which verticals of Performance Enhancement, Strength & Conditioning, Recovery Protocols, and Injury Management/Prevention are explored. This technology is also being used in the Healthcare Sector, where patients suffering from Orthopedic and Neuromuscular conditions are given physical rehabilitation. The technology allows scientific analysis of the root cause of a condition rather than the symptom, which gives the centre’s Expert Physiotherapists information to create customised treatment programmes. Over 5000 Athletes and Medical Patients have benefited from the 6 centres across the country (Pune, New Delhi, Gurgaon, Mohali, Bangalore, and Bhubaneswar).
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The Abhinav Bindra Foundation in India aims to bring Global Best Practices into the Indian Sporting Landscape, not only supporting what currently exists as a protocol in Sport, but also to make it more accountable, expert-driven, and locally contextualized. Under the vision of India’s only Individual Olympic Gold Medalist, Mr. Abhinav Bindra, the Foundation operates under 3 pillars – Education, Intervention, and Social Upliftment. With activities across the country, the objective is to ensure that we help India redefine its understanding of sport and use that understanding to improve the day-to-day process of creating a robust Sporting Ecosystem that can create World Champions. Because it’s not every four years, it’s every day!
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Mr. Bindra chaired the ISSF Athletes Committee for 8 years and is currently a member of the International Olympic Committee’s Athlete Commission. In this position, he has spent considerable time and effort promoting Athlete Mental Health, and contributing to the policy that helps create a robust Addressal System through Global Olympic Frameworks.