In Glasgow this past July, Bindra announced his retirement from the Commonwealth Games on the eve of his event. He won a gold medal the next day.

For a man who has been intense and serious all through his career, Abhinav Bindra seems to have developed a penchant for the dramatic of late. In July, on the eve of his event in Glasgow, the Beijing Olympics gold medallist announced on social media that 2014 would be his last Commonwealth Games.

And he is at it once again. A day before his pet 10m air rifle competition at the Incheon Asian Games, Bindra served a googly that had everyone’s head spinning. “Tomorrow will mark the end of my professional shooting life! I will however still shoot, compete as a hobby shooter training twice a week,” Bindra tweeted. “And yes I will still try to be at rio and my bio is now most appropriate! Great times and am sure there will be a few more!” His twitter bio reads: “2016 olympic medal wannabe!”

True to his style, Bindra left everyone guessing with those two tweets. Bindra has said in the past that his motivation to continue shooting had reduced considerably after achieving everything he could in his sport. But from the moment he has arrived in Incheon, the 31-year old has shown few signs that would suggest this would be his last ‘professional’ outing as a shooter.

As always, he has remained aloof in the village, has stuck to his routine (he even trained on an optional practice day!) and has repeatedly insisted that his ‘love for shooting’ is returning again. “I am here at the moment because I like the sport more than I used to. In the last few years, I have had this great realisation that I am actually in love with this sport,” he had recently said.

After winning the gold medal in Glasgow, he had said, “I will take one thing at a time. I will decide later.” It is believed that over the next 12 months, Bindra will drastically reduce the number of domestic and international tournaments he will compete in. But it is unlikely that he will completely quit the sport.

The missing piece

An Asian Games gold is the only missing medal in Bindra’s long list of achievements. Four years ago in Guangzhou, he won a silver. Perhaps, by tweeting about his ‘retirement’ the 31-year-old is simply following a ritual. At Glasgow, the announcement spurred him to win the gold medal the following day. He will be hoping for that to repeat at Incheon as well.