'You can never break performance into black and white, there will always be grey and that’s the nature of sport'
'My interest just lies in seeing how we can do better'
Heading the five-member review committee to probe Indian shooters’ 2016 Rio Olympics debacle, Abhinav Bindra has said his sole interest lies in paving the way to a better future rather than looking back into the past.
The Beijing Games gold medallist recused himself from questioning the shooters as he was himself a part of the team.
"It’s is a very big task, especially because you can never break performance into black and white, there will always be grey and that’s the nature of sport. I am the first to acknowledge that so I am not quite interested to look into the performance of the athletes and how prepared they were because that is the matter of past," said Bindra at his farewell organised by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI).
"I have actually recused myself from the whole interview process because I thought that would be unfair on my part because I was part of the same team. What I am personally more interested is to set up frameworks, systems and protocols which could perhaps helps us to govern sports, organise the sport of shooting and also the whole role of managing performance, monitoring performance and athlete preparation in a more systematic manner.
"And of course to achieve that and in order to come to conclusions the committee obviously has to look back into the past. We need to see what we have done and how we can better that. But I think in seeing how we can improve, I don’t want to look into the past and see what’s gone wrong. My interest just lies in seeing how we can do better."
The NRAI said the mandate of the committee is to "examine and identify in a cold and ruthless manner", the causes behind shooting drawing a blank at the Rio Games.
Asked about creating a pool for future Olympic Games, he said, "For 2020 I think we already know 70 percent of our athletes, 30 percent of the athletes may come up within this period. You need to work with them already. But you need to look beyond that pool because that pool perhaps will not be available to you in 2024."
On his personal performance in Rio where he missed the medal by a whisker, Bindra added: "I think fourth place was a great closure to my career."
