Technical trainer of Abhinav Bindra, Heinz Reinkemeier, who is also a sports psychologist, tells Mihir Vasavda that the Olympic champion has it in him to be the first man to defend the 10m air rifle gold.

What do you make of Abhinav’s performance at the National Championships?
I was supposed to come to watch the National Championship. Owing to some problem, I couldn’t come down. The idea was to monitor the progress he has been making and I am very glad that he managed to win the gold. But then, two sportsmen make a great match. Abhi and Gagan (Narang) are very good at what they do and always ensure it’s a very entertaining showdown.

He enters the London Games in a totally different frame of mind, doesn’t he? He came into the Beijing Olympics after a major disappointment at Athens. Now he enters as the gold medallist.
It was a very difficult period for him (after Athens Olympics). But he is very strong mentally so we expected him to come back and have a go at the gold at Beijing. He started putting in extra hours in training and was very focussed. The end result is in front of you and me. London is a very different prospect. He enters without much pressure. He has nothing left to prove so he can enter the tournament in a good frame of mind. But I can assure you, he will still be raring to go for the gold.

No 10m rifle shooter has ever managed to defend an Olympic gold.
You know, when Abhi became the world champion in Zagreb, I was very angry. Nobody had become an Olympic champion after winning the world championship. But he proved us wrong. And I am very proud that he did. I am sure he can prove the world wrong all over again. These statistics, though loved by everyone, do not matter much at the end of the day.

After winning the Beijing gold, he had a lean patch. But now everything seems to be coming together at the right time. What’s the motivation for him?
Abhi is getting crazy again. We can sense that, you know. He has nothing left to win now, he has won everything a shooter can. The question is hard to answer even for us. I am sure it is not because of the money or fame. He does not like to be famous. I think it’s just that inner feeling he has to be the best in the business.

Where does he go from here? What’s the plan of action?
We have a concrete plan in place in the run up to the Olympics. We will be monitoring him closely during the Asian Championships in January. We will observe what is going right and wrong, then try and improve on it. We have to be clear about one thing, there is no sport where so many countries compete. Thirty five countries have won gold medals at the world championships. So the competition is immense and you have to be very special to stand out.

So how different is Abhinav’s training compared to his counterparts?
If you compare him to the Chinese or European shooters, they do twice as much. Abhi shoots around 120 shots per day, which is quite good. But the Chinese shoot approximately 500 shots everyday. Now, do you wonder why they have so many winners? They are even crazier.

Many shooters have undergone a course mental management, including Abhi. How crucial is it?
I think mental management is very crucial in such sports. Shooting is a sport where physical fitness, though important, is not the only thing. It is all in the mind. A sportsman, when he shoots, is insecure... there is a constant element of doubt regarding the surroundings, etc. At this level, when a sportsman seeks help from coaches, it is more for psychological aspects. We look after the technical part as well but the mental part cannot be ignored.

So what is more important, the technical aspect or psychological?
Winning or losing is a factor of technique rather than psychology. We tell a shooter, ‘it’s not a problem if you sh*t in your trouser but you have to shoot a 10. No matter what.’ He should not think what he wants; the focus should be on what he does. You need to be technically sound. If you are not competitive in that area, than you will never come close to challenging your rivals.

After Athens, what was more important for Abhinav, the mental recovery or technical?
Athens was totally different. I wouldn’t say he succumbed to pressure. He had a problem with the floor where he was standing on. The moment he stepped on to it, he had this uneasy look on his face and we understood something is wrong. The scores he shot proved us right. After the final, we checked it our self and found it uneven. When people saw him on TV, they thought it was psychological. But it wasn’t the case. Equipments and surroundings matter a lot in shooting. It is like a F1 driver. He may be very good, but in the end it all comes down to the car he drives. Same is with shooting. It’s all about how good your gun is, the target is and of course, the floor on which you stand — because balance is everything.