Imagine that you and another person are working towards the same goal. What will your state of mind be if someone walks in, cheers only your peer and leaves? How will you feel if a bunch of people come in, encourage your peer and leave? What will be your reaction when a whole lot of people, numbering about a few thousand, applaud only your opponent? Remember, motivation has an important role to play in human psychology. Your opponent will feel very much inspired and you will lack all the motivation that your opponent is getting. Would you feel dejected? Depressed? Or would you retort with a challenge and do better than your peer? It takes a lot of mental toughness, determination, self-confidence and ability to rise above all situations and stay motivated. A person who proves his mettle during such circumstances is really a class apart!

Recently I was at a tennis tournament in which our compatriots (a doubles pair) were playing against people from another nation. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, cheered our countrymen along with the huge crowd. But basically being a person who empathized, I somehow felt that it was not at all fair that our team won with such a lot of people cheering and motivating it while the other pair were playing not just against their opponents but also battling the entire thousand and odd people out there in the big stadium. But then this always happened when people play at their home ground, I kept telling myself.

It was a very close final, which was fought out well between the two teams; our countrymen played well, naturally outplayed the opponents and won the match. However, at the end of the game, when our opponents smiled and congratulated our people, I thought it really takes character to congratulate the winner in such circumstances. It suddenly occurred to me that this was the essence of sportsmanship.

I was reminded of the lines inscribed above the entry into Centre Court in Wimbledon: "If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same…" Very beautifully said! I returned home telling myself, "Hats off to sportsmanship!"