By- Harepreet Kaur ,BA-2nd , Delhi, 11 August : Abhinav is a great shooter of India, he has proved he is the best in indian shooting.He started out quite early and in 1995, at a tender age of 12 years, he won the Ropar District Shooting Championship. In 1996, he won six gold medals at Punjab State Shooting Championship in senior and junior categories.In 1996, at just 13 years, 12 gold medals came his way and he also broke the junior world record (Many organizations didn’t recognize the breaking of world record as it was not in an international event). In 1997 the National record was broken twice and 1998 was more glorious as he became the national champion in both senior & junior categories and re-established national records. In 1999 he broke the World Record in Junior men event, won Gold medal in SAF Games and re-established a World Record as Senior and Junior National Champion and a new National record. Year 2000- Went on to represent country in world shooting Championship in Barcelona and World Cup in Munich, equaling the World Record in World Cup munich-2000 with a score of 596/600(which he broke again in the same competition in 2001, by scoring 597/600). He has been the youngest member of the Indian contingent and the youngest shooter to be ever present at Olympics (Sydney 2000).
Year 2001 was greeted by a volley of 6 Gold, 4 Silver and 2 bronze in the 12 competitions of the European Circuit Championships followed by yet another Gold in the Swiss Open Championship and then a World Record at the World Cup Munich along with the first ever medal at this level for the nation. He was given the opportunity to spearhead the 26 members Indian Shooting Team competing at World Cups Milan & Munich-2001. He was the lone Indian enter the finals at Milan and broke the World Record at Munich, wining the Bronze medal in the process with a score of 597/600. Most recently in the Commonwealth Shooting Championships in august 2001, he spearheaded the Indian squad and shot down the gold in men’s 10M Rifle team event, breaking the meet record and Commonwealth Games record in the process. The individual event gold & record glided in rather easily and the previous record holder & meet champion Cristopher Hector was defeated by an unusual margin of 11.9 points.
All this has not come easily and a lot of dedication and toil has gone into creation of this glorious history. Abhinav looks at the bull’s eye – a dark 5 millimeter spot on a brown piece of paper, at the other end of the hall, as predator looks on at it’s prey. As the finger softly presses the trigger, there is a crackle of sound. The sharpshooter tugs at the pulley and examines the target. Time for another spot. This routine is followed with rigor seven hours a daily plus another few hours for physical training: jogging and stretching exercise. Thus there is complete dedication of body and soul ten hours a day, 365 days a year. "I may not like it but at the end of the day, I am pretty exhausted," says he. Shooting requires a different kind of stamina. The stamina to concentrate hard and retain balance for couple hours while holding a rifle weighing over five kilograms. And a synchronicity of mind, eyes and finger, a slight variance in any of these and you risk loosing all that is so valuable to a shooter – Balance & Self-esteem.
He shoots to success in all other walks of like and is on the top of the heap in studies as well (All parents may please note!). As introduced earlier, he is undergoing undergraduate business management course from IILM, Delhi an affiliate of the prestigious Bradford University, UK and harbors academic ambitions.
Well done Abhinav! The whole nation is proud of you and backs you in your coming victories and at Athens 2004 which is just few years away !
Abhinav Sporting Trust
India is a country blessed by almighty with the best natural and human resources. There is no dearth of exceptional and rare gems of talent in this sea of humanity. The need of the hour is to pick up and polish these gems so that our nation gets the dignified place in the world map, which it deserves. Being inspired by the efforts of the teenaged Olympian, World Record Holder Abhinav Bindra, we have taken a step in this direction. With the medium of this Trust we are playing a significant role in the Herculean task of reshaping the destiny of our talented sports persons.
In our country leaving aside Cricket, no other sport is organized which results in our sportsmen not performing to their potential in their tough international battles. Even the top most sportsmen are not sure of a sponsor and financial back up, thus are less focused on the competition event. Our best talents fall short of obtaining medals in International Arena, due to lack of resources needed for grooming and inculcating that "killer instinct".
We at Abhinav Sporting Trust have cornered the real culprits responsible for losing much-deserved medals, i.e. – lack of infrastructure, information and resources. We do not intent to leave things to chance and we believe that ‘the harder we work the luckier we would get’.
We as responsible citizen of India should insure that this state of perpetual inadequacy is removed from our system and the bright and promising talents get the full backup and get completely equipped to make their competitors lick the dust. Let the best win, but after competing with the same footage and let the deserved glory be restored to the Tricolor.
FUNDAMENTALS OF SHOOTING
A stable shooting position makes us shoot with better accuracy and offers greater resistance to the shot. Stability could be reached through balance, statics, conscious relaxation and wearing the right shooting attire.
Most sought for tactics required in shooting are "Mental" in nature and while concentrating we have to really steer our thoughts and keep at bay the panic inciting ones. During a competition, it is most obvious of us to panic and even if it is of a very light magnitude, our mind would clutch the negative pictures and fears.
The remedy of releasing this fixation lies in a simple trick of captivating the thoughts with a different topic. Sensibly enough in sports, these are subject matters that benefit the action- Such as breathing or certain, technical details. Whoever concentrates on the balance and statics of his shooting position automatically forgets everything negative. Simply think of your next shot, and the bad thoughts will disappear automatically.
STANDING SHOOTING POSITION-STABILITY
The stability of our standing shooting position not only affects the steadiness of our stance, but also has a considerable influence on the gun’s deflection when a shot is fired. When our stance is firm and our body parts are braced together, rifle will not jump as much, upon releasing a shot, as when your stance is relaxed. Though this difference is not so noticeable, nevertheless has a strong effect on our shooting accuracy. A solid shooting position "absorbs" minor mistakes, when a shot is released, because the position’s stability offers greater resistance to other negative impulses.
A very critical factor in the stabilization of the shooting position is the shooting attire. Jackets and trousers made of stiff canvas, envelopes the body like a casing and thus absorb disturbances resulting from our swaying, and curtail the mistakes with the release and the recoil of the gun. We could very well note that our movements increase considerably when we shoot without a jacket, and the deflection of our rifle is far more when we fire a shot.
TEST AND TRAINING
Before beginning your normal shooting, you should fire ten to 20 shots without your usual shooting garb in order to preserve our natural sturdiness.
Shooting without the shooting attire i.e. jacket, trousers and shoes is an excellent way to perceive and improve the stability of the shooting position. Increased sturdiness is achieved through following measures, that are taken one after the other to make the rifle steady and stable.
1. Balance: Our weight must be equally distributed over our heels and toes.
2. Statics: Weight is placed on your bones and joints reducing Muscular tension as much as possible.
3. Breathing: Deep Breaths from the stomach and letting ourselves "sink together". The stability increases perceptibly while we sink several millimeters in ourselves.
4. Inward rotation: On turning our shoulders towards the target, the muscles and tendons of our upper body tend to stiffen. We must find the right extent here and must keep it the same always. The torso stability increases when we beathe out and relax.
5. Feel the shot: This is done by concentrating on the impulse upon releasing a shot and observing the deflection of the muzzle. We are to maintain our hold and also to increase resistance by modifying our shooting position and muscular tension intuitively.
6. Release: When nothing more occurs with the shot release than a small jump caused by the system, then we may consider our stability to be right. The front sight ought to return to the center after the shot.
After going through this practice, we could put on our shooting jacket, which would now provide amazingly high stability to our shooting position. Having shot practically "undressed" before, we had to work more carefully and neatly. This ‘warm-up’ experience should clearly improve the precision of our preparation.
DURING COMPETITION
Try firing shots without a jacket during trial shooting before a match. This would draw our attention to the technique and also inject the additional confidence after we put on our jacket.
MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS
* The youngest Sportsman to be conferred the prestigious Arjuna Award.
* Spearheaded the Indian contingent for Commonwealth Shooting Championship 2001at Bisley (UK) and won 2 Gold medals setting 2 new commonwealth records.
* Lone Indian to compete at World Cup Final at Munich 2001.
* Presented with the unique honor of ‘Pride Of Doon’ award.
* Broke Jr. world record in World Cup Munich on June 13 2001, scoring 597/600 (700.5), winning the bronze medal for nation for the first time in shooting history
* Won Gold & established a new World Record with an exceptional score of 598 out of 600 in Luxemburg Open National Championship on 20-01-2001.
* Equaled the Junior World Record in Air Rifle event during World Cup in Munich on 10.6.2K with a score of 596/600.
* National Champion since 1998 in both Senior & Junior Categories in .177 ISSF Olympic Event Category.
* Bronze medallist at Asian Shooting Championship held at Langkawi, Malaysia ( january 2000).
* Silver medallist at Warsaw Days Cup, Poland (year 2000)
* Silver medallist at Jr. World Hopes, Plzen-2000 shooting championship held in Czech republic.
* Placed joint 11th position in Olympics Sydney – 2000 and is ranked 2nd in Asia after the Olympic Gold medallist from China.
* Represented India in World Cup Finals- Munich held in Nov.,2000 and placed No.10th in the World ranking. Awarded the Diploma of Honour by ISSF.
* Declared the Best Shooter at RIAC 2001, lifted Nissan and Den Haag Cup in the European Circuit.
* Won six Gold medals in a row, 4 Silvers and 2 Bronze in the European Circuit-2001, an unparalleled feat in shooting History.
* Won Gold in the All Swiss National Open Championship in March 2001.
* Lone Indian participant for the World Cups Atlanta & Seoul 2001.
* Only Indian to enter the finals of World cup Milan-2001, finished sixth.
* Presently placed 7th in the World ranking by ISSF.
Abhinav Bindra’s detailed Chronological victory tally is given below:-
1995
— IN NOVEMBER WON THE ROPAR DISTRICT SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP.
1996
— WON 6 GOLD MEDALS AT THE PUNJAB STATE SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP IN SENIOR & JUNIOR CATEGORIES.
— WON 6 GOLD MEDALS AT CHANDIGARH STATE CHAMPIONSHIP & BROKE THE WORLD RECORD – BEST SHOOTER.
— WON GOLD MEDAL AT ALL INDIA MAVALANKER SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP AT AHMEDABAD.
— WON BRONZE MEDAL AT NATIONAL SHOOTING – ASANSOL.
1997
— PARTICIPATED AT THE 4TH NATIONAL GAMES AT BANGALORE. WAS THE YOUNGEST COMPETITOR IN SHOOTING. STOOD 5TH IN SENIOR CATEGORY AND IST IN JUNIORS & BROKE JUNIORS NATIONAL RECORD.
— CHANDIGARH STATE CHAMPION – BROKE NATIONAL RECORD.
— PUNJAB STATE CHAMPION – BROKE NATIONAL RECORD.
— SELECTED TO UNDERGO SPECIALIZED TRAINING AT WIESBADEN SHOOTING SCHOOL-GERMANY.
— WON TWO GOLD & TWO SILVER MEDALS AT DUETSCHE MEISTERSCAFT(First Indian to win German Championship).
— SELECTED AS MEMBER NATIONAL SQUAD, INDIA.
— SCORED VERY HIGH AT NATIONAL CAMP & BEAT ALL NATIONAL SENIORS.
— SELECTED FOR ASIAN & COMMONWEALTH CAMPS.
— WON THE GOLD MEDAL AT ALL INDIA MASTERS SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP HOSTED BY MAHARASHTRA STATE ASSOCIATION & NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION OF INDIA.
— WON THE GOLD MEDAL AT THE IST ALL INDIA INTER SCHOOL SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP HELD AT HARDWAR UNDER AUSPICES OF NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION OF INDIA- BROKE NATIONAL RECORD.
— WON TWO GOLD MEDALS AT THE NORTHERN INDIA SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP AT CHANDIGARH.
1998
— ATTENDED NATIONAL CAMP IN BANGALORE.
— WON IST CHIEF MINISTERS GOLD CUP-NEW DELHI.
— BECAME NATIONAL CHAMPION IN BOTH SENIOR & JUNIOR CATEGORIES & ESTABLISHED TWO NEW NATIONAL RECORDS AT THE 41ST NATIONAL SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP IN NEW DELHI.
— SELECTED FOR 47TH WORLD SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP TO BE HELD AT BARCELONA, SPAIN IN JULY, 98 & UIT WORLD CUP IN MUNICH.
— REPRESENTED INDIA IN COMMONWEALTH GAMES 1998 AT KAULA LAUMPUR.
— BEST SHOOTER/CHAMPION AT 2ND INTER SCHOOL SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP ORGANIZED BY NRAI.
— BEST SHOOTER AT NORTH INDIA SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP 1998 AT CHANDIGARH.
— BEST SHOOTER ISU CHANDIGARH CHAMPIONSHIP & ESTABLISHED NEW NATIONAL RECORD.
— MEMBER NATIONAL SHOOTING SQUAD.
1999
— SELECTED UNDERGO ADVANCE TRAINING IN WIESBADEN GERMANY FROM IST – 21ST JAN, 1999.
— REPRESENTED INDIA FOR RIAC 99 LUXEMBOURG.
— EUROPEAN SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP IN LUXEMBOURG FROM JAN 6 – JAN 14 1999.
— GRANTED INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC SOLIDARITY SCHOLARSHIP FOR 2 YEARS BEING THE MOST TALENTED SPORTSMAN IN AGE GROUP 15 YEARS -18 YEARS, BY INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE.
— PARTICIPATED IN LUXEMBOURG NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP AND WON A SILVER MEDAL.
— GRANTED LIFE MEMBERSHIP FOR LUXEMBOURG NATIONAL SHOOTING CLUB.
— REPRESENTED PUNJAB STATE AT 42ND NATIONAL SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP AT BANGALORE.
— BECAME NATIONAL CHAMPION AND ESTABLISHED NEW NATIONAL RECORD.
— REPRESENTED PUNJAB STATE FOR 5TH NATIONAL GAMES HELD AT MANIPUR AND WON A SILVER MEDAL IN SENIOR OPEN CATEGORY WITH NEW NATIONAL RECORD.
— ATTENDED ADVANCE TRAINING COURSE IN WIESBADEN FROM 27-4-99 -18-5-99 WON REGIONAL GERMAN CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP.
— REPRESENTED INDIA FOR WORLD CUP HELD AT MUNICH GERMANY FROM 19 – 23RD MAY, 1999.
— REPRESENTED INDIA FOR WORLD CUP HELD AT MILAN, ITALY FROM 24 – 29TH MAY, 1999 WAS DECLARED THE YOUNGEST SHOOTER PARTICIPANT.
— REPRESENTED INDIA FOR WORLD CUP HELD AT ATLANTA U.S.A. FROM 26TH JUNE TO 4TH JULY, 1999.
— BROKE THE WORLD RECORD IN AIR RIFLE JUNIOR MEN EVENT DURING THE SELECTION TRIALS HELD AT BANGALORE FROM 2ND TO 21ST AUGUST 1999. HE SCORED 594/600, WHICH IS HIGHER BY ONE POINT THAN HE EXISTING WORLD HELD BY RASMUS LUND OF DENMARK.
— SELECTED TO REPRESENT INDIA AT THE 8TH SAF GAMES AT KATHMANDU, NEPAL FROM 23 SEPT 99 TO 4 OCT 99.
— WON A GOLD MEDAL IN TEAM EVENT AT SAF GAMES. ESTABLISHED A NEW TEAM SAF GAMES RECORD.
— WON A SILVER MEDAL IN INDIVIDUAL EVENT 10 M1SSU AIR RIFLE AND ESTABLISHED A NEW SAF GAMES RECORD.
— PARTICIPATED IN OCEANA CHAMPIONSHIP HELD IN SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA FROM THE 6th TILL 16th OF NOVEMBER, 1999. ATTAINED THE 6th POSITION AND ESTABLISHED A NEW NATIONAL RECORD.
— REPRESENTED INDIA TO PARTICIPATE IN 3rd COMMON WEALTH SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIPS HELD IN AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND AND WON A BRONZE MEDAL IN TEAM EVENT.
— REPRESENTED THE STATE OF PUNJAB IN THE 43rd NATIONAL RIFLE SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP HELD AT PHILLAUR AND WAS DECLARED NATIONAL CHAMPION IN JUNIOR AND SENIORMEN CATEGORY BY SCORING A SCORE OF 593/600 ESTABLISHING A NEW NATIONAL RECORD SURPASSING THE ASIAN RECORD AT 591/600 AND EQUALLING THE WORLD RECORD. SURPASSED ALL PREVIOUS NATIONAL RECORDS HELD BY EARLIER SHOOTERS. THE HIGHEST SCORE AT NATIONALS IN THE HISTROY OF INDIA.
— AWARDED A SPECIAL CASH AWARD FROM RANJITGARH CLUB, PUNJAB.
— AWARDED A SPECIAL CASH AWARD FROM NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION OF INDIA FOR SURPASSING THE ASIAN RECORD.
2000
— PARTICIPATED AT THE ASIAN SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP HELD AT LANGKAWI, MALAYSIA FOR 20th – 30th JANUARY, 2000 AND WON BRONZE MEDAL BY SCORING A SCORE OF 694.9.
— REPRESENTED INDIA FOR PRE OLYMPIC WORLD CUP SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA FROM 21st MARCH – 31st MARCH.
— SELECTED TO REPRESENT INDIA FOR THE WORLD CUPS IN MUNICH, ITALY AND INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS IN CZECH REPUBLIC, POLAND, HUNGARY FROM 1st MAY TO 15TH JUNE, 2000.
— ATTAINED THE 9TH POSITION IN THE INTERNATIONAL SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP IN CHECZ REPUBLIC WITH A SCORE OF 590 / 6000.
— WON A SILVER MEDAL AT WARSAW DAYS CUP HELD IN POLAND.
— PARTICIPATED AT THE WORLD CUP, MILAN, ITALY ON 31.5.2000 ANDSCORED A SCORE OF 590/600 AND PLACED WITH A WORLD RANKING ON 15th POSITION.
— BROKE THE WORLD RECORD IN AIR RIFLE EVENT DURING WORLD CUP IN MUNICH. HE SCORED 596 / 600 WHICH IS HIGHER BY TWO POINTS THAN THE EXISTING WORLD RECORD.
— WON A SILVER MEDAL AT THE JUNIOR WORLD HOPES, PLZEN-2000 SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP HELD IN CZECH REPUBLIC WITH A SCORE OF 694.
— PLACED JOINT 11TH POSITION IN OLYMPICS SYDNEY-2000 WITH A SCORE OF 590/600 AND IS RANKED 2ND IN ASIA AFTER THE OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLIST FROM CHINA.
— REPRESENTED INDIA IN WORLD CUP FINALS AT MUNICH HELD IN NOVEMBER, 2000 AND PLACED NO. 10 IN THE WORLD RANKING. AWARDED THE DIPLOMA OF HONOUR BY ISSF.
2001
— WON A SILVER MEDAL IN EUROPEAN CIRCUIT AT LUXEMBOURG RIAC-2001 WITH A SCORE OF 692.4.
— WON A GOLD MEDAL IN THE NISSAN CUP RIAC-2001 AIR RIFLE SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP IN LUXEMBOURG WITH A SCORE OF 697.01
— WON A GOLD MEDAL AT EUROPEAN SHOOTING CIRCUIT RIAC- 2001 WITH A SCORE OF 692.5.
— ESTABLISHED A WORLD RECORD IN AIR RIFLE EVENT DURING LUXEMBOURG OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP ON 20-1.2001 AT 3.30 P.M. LOCAL TIME WITH A SCORE OF 702.2 AND WON A GOLD MEDAL.
— DECLARED THE BEST SHOOTER OF RIAC-2001, LIFTED NISSAN CUP AND DEN HAAG CUP IN THE EUROPEAN CIRCUIT
— WON GOLD MEDAL AT THE SWISS NATIONAL SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP 2001 WITH A SCORE OF 593/600.
— REPRESENTED INDIA IN THE WORLD CUP, ATLANTA FROM 12TH TO 19TH APRIL-2001 AND WAS A LONE INDIAN AND HAD A SCORE OF 590/600.
— REPRESENTED INDIA IN THE WORLD CUP, SEOUL FROM 10-15 MAY- 2001 AND HAD A SCORE OF 591/600.
— REPRESENTED INDIA IN THE MILAN WORLD CUP AND WAS PLACED SIXTH AMONG 87 COMPETITORS AND HAD A SCORE OF 594/600 AND 696.2.
— ESTABLISHED A NEW JUNIOR WORLD RECORD IN 10 METERS AIR RIFLE WITH A SCORE OF 597/600 AND WON A BRONZE MEDAL AT THE WORLD CUP SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP IN MUNICH ON 10TH JUNE, 2001 WITH A SCORE OF 700.5.
— NOT CONSIDERING THE 12 MEDAL HAULS IN EUROPEAN CIRCUIT CHAMPIONSHIP, HE IS STILL HOLDING EIGHTH RANKING IN THE WORLD AS PER ISSF LIST ISSUED ON 15.6.2001.
— WON THE 10M ISSF .177 CALIBRE EVENT BY A SCORE OF 594 + 102.8. A NEW COMMON WEALTH RECORD AND WON A GOLD IN THE INDIVIDUAL EVENT.
— WINNER OF ARJUNA AWARD FOR THE YEAR 2000, received on 29th September 2001.
— National Champion at the National Games held in Punjab in 2001.
2002
-Won three Silver Medals in a row at the RIAC-2002 Leg of the Ongoing European Circuit Shooting Championships 2002.
-Won the Gold medal at the Grafling Air Weapon Shooting Championship, the second leg of ongoing European Circuit Championship-2002. He shot a total of 596+102.9= 698.9 to snatch the Gold with a huge margin of 3.3 points.
-Won 3 Gold medals (2 team & 1 Individual) and 1Silver in the third leg of the European Circuit Championships 2002 also known as the ‘Baltic Cup’ being held at Arhus.
-Won the team Bronze Medal at the ongoing Den Haag 2002 leg of European Circuit Chmapionships.