NEW DELHI: Ace rifle shooter Abhinav Bindra on Thursday pulled out of the December Asian Games following a "severe back injury".
"It's needless to say I'm very disappointed. Playing for the country at the Asian Games is always exciting. I was looking forward to this all year," said Bindra, who has already booked a ticket for the 2008 Olympic Games.
Bindra, who sustained the injury during the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in March, consulted a doctor in Munich recently and was advised one-and-a-half months' recovery period followed by a three-week transition period.
This ruled the Indian out of the Dec 1-15 games in Doha, Qatar.
Bindra went to Munich for treatment at the Orthozentrum Munchen Ambulantes Rehabilitations Zentrum Centre hoping to get fit for the quadrennial games.
The advice given by physician Schneider specifies a muscular build up programme under professional supervision to neutralise misbalance of the thorax-lumbar muscular corsage.
"Things happen and one has to learn to work around them. And I'm going to give my recovery a 100 percent chance, so there is no hindrance for the Olympics," he said.
Bindra had won the gold medal at the World Championship in Zagreb in July.
