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Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra on Sunday congratulated Indias athletes and support teams for their Asian Games campaign, highlighting the years of hard work and sacrifices behind their performances.
He praised the breakthrough achievements while urging honest analysis of setbacks and stronger long-term high-performance systems. With the Los Angeles Olympics less than two years away, Bindra called for India to learn from the Games and prepare with urgency and purpose. India signed off from the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya with a haul of 85 medals, with gold-medal triumphs in cricket, kabaddi and hockey providing some of the defining moments of a campaign that also featured record-breaking performances, maiden podium finishes and historic individual achievements. India finished fourth in the overall medal standings with 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze medals. China dominated the Games with 341 medals, including 169 gold, followed by hosts Japan with 269 medals, including 83 gold. South Korea finished third with 150 medals, including 39 gold. "Congratulations to every Indian athlete and to Team India on the Asian Games. A Games campaign is never just the few days we see on television. It is years of early mornings, injuries, doubts, missed occasions and countless hours of work. So first and foremost, enormous respect to our athletes and also to their families who live this journey with them and make sacrifices that are rarely seen. To the coaches, support staff, federations, SAI, the Government and everyone working behind the scenes, THANK YOU !" Bindra wrote in an X post. https://x.com/Abhinav_Bindra/status/2106601388033683485?s=20 "There have been some terrific breakthrough performances at these Games. Young athletes have announced themselves, others have stepped up to a new level, and there have been moments that give us a lot to be excited about. There have also been disappointments. That is sport, and every Games will have them. What matters now is how honestly we learn from them. High performance cannot only be about reacting when an athlete is close to a medal. We have to keep building systems that understand the athlete over several years. Systems that spot gaps early, use science and data intelligently, get coaching and competition planning right, manage training load and recovery, reduce preventable injuries and build athletes who are physically and mentally resilient when the pressure is greatest. Most importantly, the right expertise has to reach the athlete at the right stage of their career, not when it is already too late," the post further added. "LA is less than two years away. In Olympic sport, that is not a long time. The athletes who will stand on the podium there are already deep into their preparation today. So this is the moment to celebrate what went well, be honest about what did not and get back to work with urgency and purpose. Congratulations again to our athletes and to everyone who stood behind them. Be proud of what has been achieved. Learn from these Games and keep moving forward. Wishing Team India everything good on the road to LA," he concluded. Indias 85-medal haul fell short of its record 106-medal tally, including 28 golds, at the 2023 Hangzhou Games. However, the campaign was marked by several landmark achievements across disciplines. The biggest success came in the three team sports in which India competed in both the mens and womens events cricket, kabaddi and hockey with the country completing a clean sweep of gold medals across all six competitions. (ANI)
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