India's first-ever gold medallist in an individual event at the Olympics Abhinav Bindra has expressed happiness over the country's performance in Paris.
In an interview with Samip Rajguru, Abhinav lauded the efforts of the Indian contingent and mentioned that it has been a "spirited" performance.
"It has been a spirited performance. Even though we have won only six medals, I think our athletes have performed exceedingly well. We have had so many fourth-place finishes and it's a marker of progress. I don't think in our Olympic history we have witnessed so many athletes in strong contention for a medal," said Abhinav.
The Beijing gold medallist also extolled Manu Bhaker who won two bronze medals at the Paris Olympics and mentioned that it was heartening to see her make a strong comeback after the fiasco in Tokyo.
"It was a great performance. She has displayed remarkable resilience. She had a tough experience in Tokyo (Olympics) but she has shown that she is a real sportsperson and kept working hard. To come back from what happened in Tokyo and to win two bronze medals, I think it's been a great performance," he added.
Abhinav also urged the athletes to keep pushing hard so that India's contingent at the Los Angeles Olympics grows bigger in size and could bring more medals.
"I think in multiple sports our standard has improved substantially and I have not seen such a bunch of competitive athletes from India at an Olympics. So, that's a sign of progress. We have a young pool of players coming through the ranks and we need to keep pushing hard.
"We need to build on our contingent and that should be one of our goals for Los Angeles. If our contingent grows and more athletes qualify then it will increase our chances of securing more medals.
"The Olympics is an unforgiving event. Happens once in four years and the competition is really tough. We need to work at the grassroots level and it is a long-term investment and not something that can produce results overnight," he said.
The 41-year-old mentioned that India needs to see the positive side of so many fourth-place finishes it has had in Paris and emphasised creating the right environment along with building infrastructure for athletes to stay back in the country and train.
"Building the right infrastructure is not everything. In addition to that, you have to create an environment which is conducive to performance. It needs to be a psychologically secure environment for the athletes to train in. We need to focus more on empowering the coaching system in India," he said.
Abhinav also expressed sadness over Vinesh Phogat's disqualification and said that "sports can be cruel" at times.
"It is a gut-wrenching experience. Sometimes, sports can also be cruel. Sport is governed by rules. If there are no rules, there is no sport.
Of course, I feel very bad for her. I went to see her and empathized with her. The matter is in CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) and it's a legal battle now. Let's see what happens."
