Olympian abhinav bindra

Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range: Abhinav Bindra has urged the sports ecosystem to humanize athletes and not expect them to perform like robots. India's first individual gold medallist at the Olympic Games was speaking to sports psychologists in a virtual session at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range here on Thursday.

The psychologists are attending a certification programme focusing on the critical role of Sports Psychologists in the lives of shooting sports athletes. The programme is being conducted by the National Centre for Sports Science and Research (NCSSR), in collaboration with the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), and Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports (NSNIS), Patiala.

“The first and foremost job is to treat athletes as human beings and not to keep conditioning them as medal-winning robots. Building trust and relationships with the athletes is very important and there should be absolute patience aplenty in the sports psychologists to deal with the constant mental and emotional evolution of the athletes,” said the 2008 Olympics men’s 10 Air Rifle gold medalist.