Abhinav Bindra says training Indian athletes on mental health issues a ‘work in progress’

Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra on Friday acknowledged training Indian athletes across sports on the aspect of mental health remains a “work in progress”, while adding that benefits of the same must reach grassroots level.

Bindra said mental health directly influences overall well-being of an athlete and sports administrators also share equal responsibility in it.

“It’s an area where there is work in progress — we all acknowledge that. We are a sporting ecosystem which is developing. It is slowly maturing,” he said during a virtual interaction organised by Mpower to launch AMP: A Sports Psychology Division to Elevate Athlete Performance.

“This is an aspect that not just from a shooting athlete’s point of view, but across the board, which needs to be prioritised. It is something which has a direct influence on the performance of the athlete.

“It has a direct influence on the well-being of an athlete. Sports organisations and everybody involved in governance has to also ensure that our athletes perform well, but their well-being is of equal importance,” he added.

Bindra highlighted the presence of a mental health expert with the Indian contingent in Paris Olympics as a step in the right direction.

“We’ve seen progress made even during the Olympics in Paris. It was the first time there was a mental health expert who was with the team. There (also) was somebody for sleep,” he said.

“There are things that are happening. But we need to keep working with intensity to make sure that this perpetuates down to the grassroot level,” he added.

Bindra rejected the notion that athletes today are “softer” than those in the past.

“I completely disagree. If that is the notion to be believed, then the softer ones are winning more than the tougher ones because that’s what our results and our history tell us,” he said.

Bindra revealed how a meditation course, while planning to quit shooting, helped him find “love for the process” after winning the Olympic gold in 2008.

“When I did win that gold medal at the Olympics, my energy was completely drained in the sense that I was physically, emotionally (and) mentally drained. It also required a period of time to just let go and then to recharge my batteries and that wasn’t easy,” he said.

“I decided to go on a vipassana meditation course and it was interesting because I was wanting to actually leave the sport and move on to the next calling. That was my primary drive, to find my new calling.” “I had to meditate for eight nine hours a day in complete silence for 10 days and all I did in that course was to think back to my sport and think back to how I loved the process of what I was doing,” he said.

Bindra said he was guilty of not realising his full potential since he judged himself on outcomes of tournaments.

“For far too long, perhaps, I too was guilty in putting myself worth to wear my name, equating myself worth to where my name would appear on the ranking list of a sports competition and that was very silly,” he said.

“I became an Olympic champion, (a) world champion, I won many many championships but I failed in achieving my fullest and truest potential and now that I have a chance to look back I would attribute that failure to this lack of balance that I had in my life as an athlete.

“I did not humanise my effort enough and I think that was while it helped me achieve goals it didn’t help me get to my very best ability,” he added.