how many times have we witnessed a perfectly natural phenomenon of patriotic frenzy when we are watching an international sports match between an India team or athlete versus some other (often superior) competitor, especially in a crucial prestigious championship final or semi-final!
same happened when P V Sindhu played (and comprehensively beat) Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in 2016 Olympics semi-final and then played (and painfully though bravely lost to unmistakably better) Carolina Marin of Spain.
this phenomenon of charged emotions again played out in front of millions of TV sets yesterday when Sindhu was up against the same Japanese in the World Badminton Championship final in Glasgow.
while every Indian worth his or her salt wanted Sindhu to become the first ever World Champion from India, so would have every Japanese.
i guess this competitive spirit to win and be a champion is what brings the excitement that every sport is underlined with.
well, if you add the phrase "may the best one on the day win!" to "my country should win!" you reach closer to the mental state which can give best juice of satisfaction to any sports lover.
this is the exact spirit in which i went into the match as a spectator, albeit on TV.
it was heart breaking that Sindhu lost (yet again) in a major final, but there were many crucial learnings, experiences and take aways, even for the spectators...
first, the match brought forward the importance of three crucial parameters
- skill and technique
- mental toughness
- physical fitness
on the first aspect, both the indian as well as the japanese were almost equal albeit in slightly different shades.
both were equally mentally tough as well as vulnerable. we have, though, seen tougher players in the history of the game.
the more than slight difference which came to forth in the final set though was that of the physical stamina. that of the shorter and more balanced japanese was one or two notch higher than that of the tall and high 'center of gravity' indian.
it was fast turning out to be the match of "who collapses first"
all through the three sets both of them were mildly attacking and largely defensive with a lot of rallies and positional plus net play. unforced errors were deciding the score rather than forced errors (which players like Marin depend more upon).
the final two points Sindhu conceded were unforced errors having their roots in her state of exhaustion.
well, in the end the better player won.
a champion has to be of champion material and there is often a very thin line separating the one from others
we got a new world champion who truly belongs to the whole world.
what a wonderful badminton we all witnessed.
as a big consolation, what a sight to see two indians on the victory podium amongst 1 chinese and 1 japanese.
who could have even thought of it some years ago?
these girls have made us proud! three cheers!!!
same happened when P V Sindhu played (and comprehensively beat) Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in 2016 Olympics semi-final and then played (and painfully though bravely lost to unmistakably better) Carolina Marin of Spain.
this phenomenon of charged emotions again played out in front of millions of TV sets yesterday when Sindhu was up against the same Japanese in the World Badminton Championship final in Glasgow.
while every Indian worth his or her salt wanted Sindhu to become the first ever World Champion from India, so would have every Japanese.
i guess this competitive spirit to win and be a champion is what brings the excitement that every sport is underlined with.
well, if you add the phrase "may the best one on the day win!" to "my country should win!" you reach closer to the mental state which can give best juice of satisfaction to any sports lover.
this is the exact spirit in which i went into the match as a spectator, albeit on TV.
it was heart breaking that Sindhu lost (yet again) in a major final, but there were many crucial learnings, experiences and take aways, even for the spectators...
first, the match brought forward the importance of three crucial parameters
- skill and technique
- mental toughness
- physical fitness
on the first aspect, both the indian as well as the japanese were almost equal albeit in slightly different shades.
both were equally mentally tough as well as vulnerable. we have, though, seen tougher players in the history of the game.
the more than slight difference which came to forth in the final set though was that of the physical stamina. that of the shorter and more balanced japanese was one or two notch higher than that of the tall and high 'center of gravity' indian.
it was fast turning out to be the match of "who collapses first"
all through the three sets both of them were mildly attacking and largely defensive with a lot of rallies and positional plus net play. unforced errors were deciding the score rather than forced errors (which players like Marin depend more upon).
the final two points Sindhu conceded were unforced errors having their roots in her state of exhaustion.
well, in the end the better player won.
a champion has to be of champion material and there is often a very thin line separating the one from others
we got a new world champion who truly belongs to the whole world.
what a wonderful badminton we all witnessed.
as a big consolation, what a sight to see two indians on the victory podium amongst 1 chinese and 1 japanese.
who could have even thought of it some years ago?
these girls have made us proud! three cheers!!!
