'Athletes are also human beings', Abhinav Bindra explained why mental health training of players is important

A player has to face mental pressure both inside and outside the field, so we have to focus on their mental well-being, only then will their performance improve in big events like the Olympics. 

Abhinav Bindra on Mental Health of Athletes: When India's legendary shooter Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, we Indians swelled with pride. Bindra believes that an athlete's mental resilience and strength are linked to their overall well-being. Players face a lot of stress even outside sports events. He emphasized that attention should be paid to the mental health training of sportspersons. 

Focus on mental health is important

Abhinav Bindra told Neerja Birla during the 'Empower' online press conference, "The foundation of mental resilience and strength really comes from how healthy an athlete is mentally as a human being, what kind of balance they have because that has a very direct impact on their mental performance as an athlete. So I think sometimes it's very important to step back a little bit and look at the athlete as a human being because that forms the foundation of how you are going to perform mentally on the field."

Abhinav also said, "Sometimes we forget that we are so focused in this tunnel vision of how to perform well on the field, but we do not pay attention to what the life of an athlete is like outside the field. The outside life is directly linked to the performance on the field."

It is important to treat athletes as human beings

Abhinav Bindra focused on the fact that athletes are human beings and they also feel mental pressure. He said, "How do we deal with this situation? We are going to be able to deal with a situation where we also ensure that athletes have dual career paths during their sports career and they are able to balance their lives as a human being during their playing days because these are the things that will be very important in their life after sports."

Success can also bring emptiness

Regarding winning the gold medal in Beijing, he said that he had been dreaming of winning the medal for a long time when he achieved it, there was a big emptiness in life. At that time there was no motivation left for me and I could not understand what to do next, because life had started revolving around a big moment, there was no planning for the future, so it had become a challenging time. Abhinav wanted to say that sometimes big success can also affect mental health. 

took the help of meditation

Abhinav also revealed that he had taken the help of Vipassana. He said, "I remember my one real breakthrough moment was when I decided to go on a Vipassana meditation course. At that time, it was interesting because, at that time, I really wanted to quit sports and move on to the next calling. This was my first expedition to go to Vipassana - to find my new step, because I didn't know what my next passion was going to be." He used to do Vipassana for 8 to 9 hours and remained absolutely calm for about 10 days.

Why do athletes get nervous during the Olympics?

When Zee News asked Abhinav Bindra, "We have seen that many Indian players win gold medals in events like World Cup and World Championships, but the same athletes are unable to succeed in the Olympics, is it the pressure of the Olympics which makes it difficult for them to cope?"

Abhinav Bindra responded, "There is no doubt that the Olympics bring a unique level of pressure, which is special in itself and can be overwhelming for many athletes. The difference in performance between events like the World Championships and the Olympics is often due to the tremendous psychological pressure that comes with competing on the world's biggest stage. The intense scrutiny, expectations and the feeling of representing the entire country can create a mental burden that is different from any other competition."