When Indian men's hockey goalkeeper PR Sreejesh walks onto the field in Rio two months from now, he will be carrying with him more than just a measure of hope. He will take inspiration from a message from Abhinav Bindra, India's lone Olympic individual gold medallist and one of the goodwill ambassadors to the Games.
In early May, Bindra sent each Indian athlete who had qualified for Rio at the time, a letter asking them to share their thoughts on what the Olympics means to them and assuring them that he'd be available for any chats or queries. The idea behind lending a personal touch to the journey of Olympic-bound athletes, Bindra told ESPN, was to reach out to fellow athletes in an interactive manner.
"I was moved by the letter. It means a lot especially coming from one of India's best sportspersons ever," Sreejesh told ESPN, "He's an athlete who has proved that nothing is unattainable. It made me feel that there is no achievement that's beyond our reach. I'm keen to ask him about handling the pressure of an Olympic appearance. His words will always stay with me."
Bindra, who will be making his fifth Olympic appearance this year, explained why he'd sent the mail. "I thought, What can I possibly do as an active athlete? If I wasn't one, the possibilities were much more, I could have taken further initiative of going up to them, to different training camps, to meet them and speak to them, maybe go to Rio, be around the athletes. So I thought maybe this was the way to go.
"I pretty much did not want to give advice or push anybody in any way because everyone must find their own path to succeed. But what you can do is, you can share your experience and that's what I offered to do."
In his letter, Bindra wrote, "Like all of you, I have also planned a run-up to the pre-Olympic preparation and events and from July 10, I will be setting out on my last round of training/competition. Between now and then, if you would like to chat or want to know something or share anything - on what the Games mean to you, what they mean to me - I am here available on [my] email address.
"In over a 100 years of India's Olympic participation, there are not too many men and women like you. I am sure you are excited, impatient and waiting to get stuck into your event and to see how good you are and to show the world just how good you can be."
Heena Sidhu, whose event in Rio is the 10m air pistol, said she wasn't surprised over Bindra reaching out to athletes personally. "That's just the way he is. Always ready to offer help and advice to athletes. For instance, he suggested that I compete in Europe this month and I'm more than glad to follow his advice."
"It's a wonderful gesture," said Jitu Rai, the current world No 1 shooter in the 50m pistol who was the first Indian shooter to qualify for the Olympics. "It makes you feel special and motivates you to settle for nothing less than a victory."