Abhinav Bindra’s Name Certainly Isn’t ‘Avinash’

What he said:

“Yeah, he called me Avinash!”

Abhinav Bindra, India’s only individual gold medallist at the Olympics, reveals his bitterness with the state of sports  administration in the country.

Bindra recently released his autobiography,‘A Shot At History’, co-written with Rohit Brijnath.

An excerpt from his interview in the Times Of India:

You’ve titled a chapter ‘Mr Indian Official:
Thanks For Nothing’. Why such bitterness?

It’s just a very honest account of my experiences of Indian sport in the last 16 years. See, a sports administrator needs to have a fine understanding of the dynamics and uncertainties of sports, the planning and precision that goes into winning. Our sports administrators lack knowledge and attention to detail. They’re all nice people, but without an understanding of sports, which becomes a barrier. Running sport is bloody hard work ! It’s serious business. The whole idea of doing it as an honorary, half-hearted thing is just not good enough. The efficiency of sports officials has to match that of athletes. And their record is telling.

On winning his gold medal, Bindra says that then IOA head Suresh Kalmadi was unable to recall his first name calling him ‘Avinash’ instead.

What he really meant:

“I wonder if that was the name of one of his close relatives.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“What’s in a name?”