Rio Olympics: After a short break, Abhinav Bindra ready to jump into fire again

Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra is on a short break after clinching a quota place for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in Munich last month. When he wrote on Twitter bang in the middle of the Incheon Asian Games in 2014 that he was going to be a "fun shooter" there was a huge sense of disbelief.

As a man of few words, it's difficult to read Bindra. Yet, deep down the shooting world knew it would be tough for the 2008 Beijing air rifle gold medallist to stay away from the ranges. Since the time he saw shooting as a competitive sport for the first time at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Bindra has been hooked to the sport.

"I have been in the sport for two decades and I won't be doing it if I wasn't enjoying it," Bindra told Mail Today on Saturday.

There are times when you speak to Bindra and get the impression he doesn't want to talk too much about what he does on a day-to-day basis. He is a private man and there is only one success mantra he has - train hard with complete focus.

Ask Bindra to compare the previous four Olympics he competed in - Sydney, Athens, Beijing and London - and he is prompt in replying "there is risk now."

The word "risk" may sound hard to comprehend but what he means is that the pressure is always there.

"Athens and Beijing was different," he says, meaning he could soak in the pressure more easily.

But within a minute, Bindra admits he takes these "risks" as he enjoys it on a daily basis. Being away from home and spending hours at the ranges can be boring and tiring. Prior to the Munich World Cup, he trained abroad for five weeks and despite suffering from back trouble, sealed India's fourth quota place for the Rio Olympics.

Asked about the big day in Rio next year, Bindra said being in the air rifle competition was like "jumping into fire for two hours."

For those not familiar with shooting as a sport, that's the atmosphere in the indoor hall where over 50 marksmen stand in a freeze frame, squeezing the trigger gently and then seeing which innermost ring is hit on the target.

In India, Leander Paes keeps talking about possibly playing in his seventh Olympics. Leander was a bronze medalist in 1996 at Atlanta while Bindra won an individual gold for India for the first time 12 years later.

In Bindra's case, he knows if he is going to be present in Rio, it's not just for statistics.

He believes he has a chance to win an Olympic medal once again, though coming back to "risk" he said "a Formula One driver" takes more risk in his life daily!