New Delhi:
Frustrated by the attitude of India's shooting federation, India's first Olympic individual gold medallist, shooter Abhinav Bindra may call it quits.
Speaking to a leading national daily, Bindra said the way the governing body National Rifle Association of India was handling the sport, there might be no future in the sport for him.
"I'm not saying I don't want to be accountable. I will go to international competitions and my scores there can be monitored," Bindra said.
"The present situation has me very upset and does not leave me with much motivation," he said.
"I don't see any chance of future success if I'm not allowed to prepare in a certain way that has worked for me and is what my professional team and I have planned," he added.
Bindra, who has been training abroad for six months for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi and the Asian Games in China later this year, has been asked by the NRAI to turn up for regular trials in India, irrespective of his international results.
Last December, Bindra had to come back from Germany to attend one such trial but it was postponed at the last moment.
NDTV has an exclusive access to the letter that Abhinav Bindra wrote to the Sports Ministry and the NRAI Secretary General Baljeet Singh Sethi asking that he be allowed to prepare in a manner similar to his run-up to the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
In the letter, Abhinav wrote that he was 'utterly surprised that the trials for which he had come down from Germany had been postponed'. He requested Sports Minstry to allow his international scores as selection trial scores for the Commonwealth shooting championships in February so that he can prepare for the Commonwealth Games and the Asiad.
People close to Bindra said he has run into rigid, illogical protocol several times. They also felt that he was seriously thinking about quitting.
His father AS Bindra told NDTV: "My son is feeling low and is planning to quit. It is better that he quits than confront the rifle association."
Senior Bindra further said the only way out now is to allow the shooter to train the way he wants.
"If the country wants him to compete then the way out is to let him train. He is training with the support of the Sports Ministry. They know his every movement. His international scores should be considered for selection," he said.
Abhinav also wanted to participate in the Commonwealth shooting championships, which starts February 17 in Delhi, but the federation has not allowed him to take part.
He recently shot 596 (equal to his Beijing score) in Riac Cup in Luxembourg. He has shot a series of world level scores in recently in European circuit.
Clearly miffed with the system, Abhinav wrote on a social networking site: "Now I understand that why it took India to win a medal in 112 years."
Meanwhile, sources in the National Rifle Association of India have told NDTV that they are just following the due process. Sources said no Olympian can be above the law. Olympic medallists in other countries also go through trials. If an exception has to be made, it is up to the government. They also said Abhinav has not been singled out and any one who didn't appear in trials was not selected.
On the other hand, the sports ministry said any selection process that leaves out the best talents is faulty and it would have no issues if NRAI exempts the ace shooter from trials.
"It's for the National Sports Federations (NSF) to lay down the selection criteria. If NRAI tells the Ministry tomorrow that they want to follow a separate approach for the top shooters and exempt Abhinav from trials, we would have no objection. But we have received no such request till now," Joint Secretary in the Sports Ministry Injeti Srinivas said.
"The ministry insists on NSFs having a well-calibrated selection criteria implemented in a transparent manner so that it results in the best team representing the country. Now what the criteria should be is something left entirely to the NSFs," he explained.
"What should be the criteria, whether performance in tournaments abroad should carry more weightage or the trials, it's upto the NRAI to decide. The Sports Ministry doesn't come into the picture," Srinivas said.
Srinivas said it was surprising that the Sports Ministry was unnecessarily dragged into the selection debate. He also felt that elite shooters like Abhinav and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore deserve customised training.
"The Ministry has no doubts whatsoever that Bindra is our top shooter and that's why he, along with some other elite shooters, has been exempted from the standardised training of our core group of shooters.
"That's precisely why marksmen of the calibre of Bindra, Rathore or Manavjit Singh are allowed tailor-made, personalised training. We have spent Rs 1.5 crore for the training Bindra is undergoing and he and his coach visited the ministry in the past to appreciate that," Srinivas said.
Srinivas said the Ministry had advised Bindra to focus on his training and promised to sort things out.
Earlier speaking to NDTV on 'sportsman should play for nation not money', Bindra had said: "It is clear that all Olympic sportspersons play for the honour of the country and that's about it. We pursue our passion, and we give our lives to it. But whoever is asking such questions, I would like to ask them if they would pursue their passion free of cost, will they be ready to do that? And if the players are asking for their dues, I don't see anything wrong in that." (
Watch: Professionals should run Indian sports, says Bindra)
(With PTI inputs)