“True sportsmanship is…
Knowing that you need your opponent because without him or her, there is no game.
Acknowledging that your opponent holds the same deep-rooted aspirations and expectations as you.
Knowing that, win or lose, you will walk off the course with pride.
Always taking the high road.
And always, always, always being a good sport.”
-- Lorii Myers, No Excuses, The Fit Mind-Fit Body Strategy Book
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When tennis players, Angelique Kerber and Serena Williams warmly embraced each other after their hard-fought two-set match at Wimbledon last Saturday, they immediately exhibited that one ingredient which makes sports special: Sporting Spirit.
In fact, in her on-court interview too, the pretty German player began by praising her more experienced victor, Serena and said how happy she was for the American. Serena, acknowledged the good wishes by clapping instantly and soon reciprocated in equal measure. She said, “Angelique is a very fine competitor on the court and is a great person to hang out with off the court.”
Sporting spirit is so important in modern day sport, where commercial demands often dictate your growth and career. If you recall, both these players were very serious on the court. Serena was letting off steam regularly by screaming in her corner, while Angelique pursed her lips and clenched her fists to focus better. However, once the match was over, the warm embrace followed by the genuine praise for each other underlined the basic goodness of sport.
Ditto was the case with the male competitors. During the match last Sunday, the crowd favourite, Andy Murray was often seen talking to himself. Raonic on the other hand, intermittently let out a scream to pump himself up. But post-match, Murray and Raonic greeted each other warmly across the net. In his on-court interview, Raonic, while promising to keep coming back to Wimbledon, praised Murray’s game, acknowledging the Scot’s superiority on that day. Murray in turn, praised Raonic’s consistency during the two-week tournament and praised his tennis skills. This again was sporting spirit of the highest order. Excellent role models for the younger generation.
The wee hours of Monday, saw a fancied France take on a pumped up Portugal in the Euro 2016 football finals. The respective national anthems were sung by both teams with a lot
of gusto. The match too began on a dramatic note, with Portugal’s captain Ronaldo being stretchered off the ground. Ronaldo’s injury upset his team mates. Some of them even targeted Payet, the French mid-fielder, who they thought had deliberately felled their captain. Payet was brutally brought down in mid-flight by a Portuguese player. There was rough play from both sides, necessitating the referee to pull out the yellow cards.
Eder’s great kick however, sealed the match in Portugal’s favour triggering off the customary celebrations. The French team was understandably devastated and walked around aimlessly on the ground after the match.
Luckily, the animosity on the field was soon replaced by sporting spirit. The Portuguese footballers stood in two, neat rows near the stadium steps and cheered every single French player as they went up to collect their medals. Once again, sporting spirit had prevailed over mere winning and losing.
Globalnews.ca, the Canadian news portal in a 2014 post has quite a few similar inspiring gems to share. Here are a couple of them. Russian cross-country skier, Anton Gafarov crashed and broke one of his skis, while participating in the sprint free semifinals of the Sochi Winter Olympics in February, 2014. Seeing this, Canada’s coach Justin Wadsworth ran up to the stricken athlete and fixed a new ski to Gafarov’s ski boot. This enabled Gafarov complete the race in front of his home crowd. Sporting spirit.
Likewise, during a running event in December 2012, Spanish runner Iván Fernández Anaya was trailing behind the Olympic bronze medalist Abel Mutai of Kenya. Mutai slowed down near the finish line believing he had won the race, despite still being several metres away from the tape. The Spanish runner noticing the Kenyan’s mistake, slowed down behind the African and literally pushed him past the finish line. Exemplary sporting spirit once again.
Closer home, in the 1980 Golden jubilee cricket test match between India and England, the umpire adjudged English wicket keeper Bob Taylor caught behind off Kapil Dev. Gundappa Viswanath, the Indian skipper at that time, standing in slips doubted the umpire’s decision. Exhibiting sportsmanship of the highest order, Viswanath actually stopped Taylor and asked him if he had nicked the ball. When Taylor replied in the negative, Viswanath asked him to continue batting. The decision helped England beat India by ten wickets. Most people criticized Viswanath, but the little man from Bengaluru stood his ground.
A similar cricketing situation comes to mind. My Pune club team was playing Sporting Union, the Kolkata club on their maidans in the winter of 1986. Sourav Ganguly’s older brother, Snehasish Ganguly was batting when he played and missed a ball. We appealed mildly, the umpire was unmoved, but Ganguly simply started walking back to the pavilion. Sporting Union lost the game. After the game, I asked Ganguly, why he had walked voluntarily and he said, ‘I nicked the ball and was being honest. I have been taught to play this way!’
In sport, there is always a winner and a loser. What is more important is whether there is a sporting winner and a sporting loser. Fortunately, this breed is still alive and ticking.
