Bindra urges India to overhaul high-performance planning before Los Angeles
Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra has called for faster and more systematic improvements to India’s high-performance sports programme after the country finished fourth at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. He said athletes targeting the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics are already deep into their preparations and cannot afford delayed support.
Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra has urged India to make immediate improvements to its high-performance sports system, saying the preparations for the 2028 Los Angeles Games are already well advanced. India finished the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games with 85 medals: 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze. The total was below the 106 medals won at the previous edition in Hangzhou, although several younger athletes produced breakthrough performances.
Bindra said the response should focus not only on the medal count but also on identifying lessons from the campaign and converting them quickly into action. In a post on X, he argued that high performance should not begin only when an athlete is close to winning a medal. Instead, problems should be identified and addressed over several years.
He said the athletes likely to challenge for medals in Los Angeles were already deep into their Olympic preparations. In that context, he described the remaining period as short and warned against complacency. Bindra called for stronger use of sports science and data, better competition planning, careful management of training and recovery, and greater attention to injury prevention.
He also highlighted the need to develop athletes’ mental and physical resilience. The central requirement, he said, was to ensure that expertise reached competitors at the appropriate stage of their careers rather than after problems had become difficult to correct. Despite the shortcomings, Bindra praised India’s athletes and the emergence of a new generation.
He acknowledged the work of families, coaches, support staff, federations, the Sports Authority of India and the government. He said the country should celebrate what went well, examine what did not and return to work with urgency. China topped the Asian Games table, followed by Japan and South Korea, while India remained fourth.
Bindra’s comments place the emphasis on using the Nagoya experience to improve Olympic preparation immediately.
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