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'In an athlete's life, there will be failures. It is important to acknowledge that failure and use it to propel yourself towards success.'
Labelling himself as 'yesterday's man', Olympic gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra on Wednesday said that the country should focus on finding the next champion instead of talking about his feat.
Bindra had scripted history by winning the 10 metre air rifle event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games to become the first Indian to win an individual gold medal in the history of Olympics.
"In sports, yesterday never counts, I am yesterday's man looking ahead for the next Olympic champion," Bindra said at the launch of JSW's Inspire Institute of Sports (IIS) in Bengaluru.
"We should look ahead at finding the next gold medal, the facility created right here is the playground for the next emerging champion," he added.
Talking about the importance of facing failure before achieving success, the 35-year-old Bindra said one should concentrate on the boring and mundane part of being an athlete.
"I had one good day. People should also talk about the miserable days I had. In an athlete's life, there will be failures. It is important to acknowledge that failure and use it to propel yourself towards success," he said.
"Failures are part of our lives. We should hence focus on the mundane and the daily grind," he added.
In a bid to inspire the youth to aim for gold in the upcoming Asian Games and 2020 Olympics, Bindra had last week released a video commemorating the 10th anniversary of his historic gold-winning performance.
Spread over 42 acres, the institute aims to provide a world class training centre which can provide Indian athletes access to the most advanced infrastructure, coaching and sports science within the country. It is an initiative led by the JSW Group.
The Training Centre will house 300 athletes across five Olympic disciplines of Boxing, Judo, Wrestling, Athletics and Swimming. Scouted athletes from across India will be offered full scholarships to train in a completely residential facility in Vijayanagar with access to world class infrastructure, coaching, sports science support and formal education.