Asianet News Samvad with sporting legend Abhinav Bindra

"An athlete's life is being dehumanised to a great degree in the last few years. There is a misconception that athletes are super-humans, and they are immune to any kind of mental health issues. But on the other hand, an athlete's life is full of insecurities; perhaps has more red flags," India's sporting legend, Abhinav Bindra, said while taking part in Asianet News Network's 'Samvad' series.

During his interaction with Asianet News Network's Ayush Gupta and Joby George, the 2008 Beijing gold medallist shooter spoke at length about how the power of sport is beyond winning or losing. He said, "The power of sport is really about values that society at large can imbibe through sport. Sport teaches you a little bit about winning, it teaches you how to lose, it teaches you integrity and honesty, it teaches you how to set goals and follow them, it teaches you teamwork, builds relationships and teaches you to listen to different viewpoints."

"As a nation, we are all after economic success. It is very interesting to note that all the greatest economies of the world also happen to be great sporting superpowers. I do believe that they have become great economic powers because sports has played a very important role in the foundation of the economy," Bindra, the first-ever Indian to win an individual Olympic gold, noted.

Bindra, in the exclusive interview, reemphasised the need to ensure that a toxic environment does not permeate into the country's sporting ecosystem.

"We attach too much to winning. We make winning too big. And that is a problem because that is not sustainable. When you make winning too big, athletes get susceptible to doing things that are banned. So creating the right environment is very, very important; making sure that athletes develop the right values and that can only happen through proper awareness. We won seven medals at the Olympics, but on the shame list, we are third or fourth in the world. that is not a good thing and not a good sign," he said.

Watch the full interview