More To The Game

Vivek (a friend of mine) had won many a table tennis tournaments in his days as a player at district level and was also one of the top seeds in his days, but to many of his schoolmates he will always be remembered as one of the icons for sportsmanship. Not many remember his tournament wins but many do remember him for the one off incident that made him famous very early in his playing days.

He was once facing one of the top seeds in the tournament and in one of the sets was leading 19-16 needing just couple of points to win the set. After the long rally when he was about to be awarded the point, he raised his hand and said that he had handled the ball and the point should be awarded to the opponent. He was applauded for his truthfulness and the match carried on with the opponent getting the point. Eventually the opponent won the set and Vivek was defeated in a gruesome match. But, despite losing the point, he became more famous than ever. The incident was put down in newspaper and school also contributed by putting up the article on the notice board. Later when asked by a friend as to how he later felt about that moment and did he regret it he said he never regrets that decision and believes there is more to the game than just a win or lose and believed there is a certain amount of truthfulness and integrity attached in the game for which he will always remain proud of keeping it.

Sports many a times is taken too professionally, sometimes so much as to forget that it’s a game after all. Winning and losing does matter at a professional level but being truthful in the game only adds to the beauty of it. Yes, we can say that it’s a profession and we need not interfere with the decision and I don’t say it’s wrong but if we can do something to avoid it, we might not only save our guilt but be proud of the fact that we played the game the right way.

In a professional career, success and failure are a part of the road but if we live it honestly and be humble about it, the world just becomes a better place to live in. It is truly said ‘Sports do not build character. They reveal it.’