Abhinav Bindra reveals he was epileptic during Rio Olympics
India's sole Olympic individual gold medalist Abhinav Bindra has revealed he was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2014, and battled it during the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2016 Rio Olympics. Abhinav added, "I didn't end up fourth (at Rio Olympics) because my hands were shaking or because of the condition. I ended up fourth because I wasn't good enough."
Abhinav Bindra, Beijing Olympics Gold medal winner and India's most decorated shooter, revealed he was fighting epilepsy during the Rio Games. Speaking at the India Today Conclave, Bindra said he had been suffering since the 2014 Commonwealth Games.However, despite the odds, Bindra qualified for the finals of the men's 10 metre air rifle final event in Rio last August.But Bindra, who was a bright medal prospect for India, narrowly missed out on a medal after finishing fourth in the final at the Olympic Shooting Centre.Bindra did not however use his condition as an excuse in the Rio Games."I didn't end up fourth because my hands were shaking or because of the condition. I ended up fourth because I wasn't good enough ," Bindra said. Participating in his fifth Olympics, the 33-year-old got off to a good start with scores of 29.9 and 30.2 in the first two series placing him in the top three.He fell to the fourth spot after a relatively poor 21.1 in the third series with a total score of 81.2. But luck favoured Bindra in the fourth series as he climbed to second with 21.5 as the other shooters in the top four also faltered. However, Bindra seemed to let the pressure get to him as his performance started to go downhill from there. The former World Champion registered progressively poorer scores of 20.8, 20.2 in the next two series. A brilliant series of high 10s saw him go up to second after 11 shots and third after 12.Bindra had maintained the position till the 14th shot but a couple of poor shots saw him score 20.1 in what would eventually be his final series and tied at fourth with Ukranian Serhiy Kulish after the 16th shot. In the shoot-off that followed, Bindra could manage only a 10.0 while the Ukranian shot a brilliant 10.5 to move ahead, thus relegating the Indian to the fourth place.The ace Indian shooter said he had no regret after the heartbreak in Rio because he knew he had done the best he could. "Time is the best healer. You accept what the reality is and move on. Sometimes an event happens and then you move on. I was satisfied I tried the best I could. An athlete is scared of regret but I had no regret," Bindra said in the session moderated by Boria Majumdar. Meanwhile, Deepa Malik, who became the first Indian to win a Paralympic Silver medal in Rio, talked about her early struggles and looked back at the time when she was given a difficult choice.Speaking at the India Today Conclave 2017, Deepa said: "In 1999, there was a choice given to me, repetitive tumours... we can either make you live, or make you walk. Otherwise the tumour will spread to your head. My body could be paralyzed, I never chose my soul to be paralysed. In 1999, my husband was at war... hospital was full war injured soldiers... they were proud of their injuries. I asked the doctor, can I walk to the operation theater and not take the stretcher... I took those 10 steps and realised how much we are blessed to do those little things.I spoke to my husband on radio. I said "Dear Vikram. Over. They say I will never walk again. Over."He said, "Don't worry about your legs. I will carry you over all my life. Let's just be alive."Sports was more about creating a new identity for me and about declaring to the world that legs indeed are overrated.