India made its Olympic debut at Paris in 1900 but has won only 20 in the 108 years since - more than half of them by its hockey team.

But Bindra, who won the gold medal in the 10 metres air rifle at Beijing in 2008, predicted that they can expect to be winning that many medals in a single Games by 2020, which New Delhi are considering bidding for.

He said: "It's not a pipedream.

"If small countries like Germany and Britain can win Olympic medals, why can't India if its athletes have the desire, drive and vision?"

India is the world's second most populous nation behind China with a population of 1.1 billion but has never made much of an impression at the Olympics.

At Beijing they won a total of three medals, including Bindra's, and were ranked 50th overall.

Nevertheless it was still India's best-ever performance in an Olympics, beating their previous highest when they had won a gold and a bronze at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki.

Bindra said: "We have been too content for too long.

"When we don’t excel at the highest level we fall back on our lofty ideals.

"Now the time has come to play to win at all costs."

Bindra believes that if India invests properly in funding then it can begin to move up the medals table.

He said: "We will have to look at our juniors for the current generation would be ruled out.

"Our current group of elite athletes won’t fetch us any medals in 2020.

"We don’t have a plan for the next two years.

"Athletes and champions cannot be groomed overnight.

"We must go and look for talent and make investments.

"We need to talent scout from the sub-junior age-group.

"The level of domestic competition also needs to be improved else our athletes will be found out of depth at the international level.

"We have the talent, it has to be polished with modern training tools.

"No point in being stingy in coaching.

"There should be no room for non-performers.

"Our ex-champs should be used for mentoring, coaching.

"The level of infrastructure should be increased quantum-fold."

Bindra hopes that the fact New Delhi is hosting this year's Commonwealth Games will be the catalyst for a rise in standards.

He said: "We have done really well in the past at the Commonwealth Games.

"I see no reason why we can’t win medals again this year.

"I am sure we will win more than one medal in the next Olympics in shooting alone."

Bindra was supported by eight-time world billiards champion Geet Sethi, who is also a driving force behind the Olympic Gold Quest, which aims to help India's top athletes prepare for the Games. 

He said: "India has consolidated its position.

"Now it the time to take the graph higher.
 
"In 1996 Leander Paes won the bronze in tennis and Karnam Malleshwari won a bronze in weightlifting in 2000.

"We did better when shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won silver in 2004.

"We went a step ahead with Bindra’s gold and the two bronze medals from Vijender Singh [boxing] (pictured) and Sushil Kumar [wrestling] at Beijing.

"Winning 20 gold medals in 2020 is not a pipedream if we can provide world-class infrastructure, training and sustained support to our best athletes."

Sethi claimed that if India achieved the target then Bindra should deserve the credit.

He said: "The Sporting fraternity owes a huge gratitude to Abhinav Bindra.

"He has sub-consciously instilled the belief in us that yes we can do it.

"Whatever the country achieves in the Oympics later on, it was Bindra who started it all."

Bindra, modestly, claimed that if he could do, then so could other Indian athletes.

He said: "Dare to dream, back yourself"

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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