The recent incident of Randiv delivering a deliberate no-ball to prevent Sehwag from reaching his century has become the talk of the town in the entire world of sports. Randiv has allegedly apologized to Sehwag for his inappropriate demeanor, but this shameful incident has left a burning question for the society to ponder over- “Is sports losing its quintessence?”
The concept of sports was initially propounded with an idea of developing harmony between people with different backgrounds and to promote the true spirit of sportsmanship among them. The objective of sports is not only to teach people to persevere for victory, but also to make them accept their defeat and learn from it. Today’s scenario has manipulated the aforementioned objectives and has transmogrified the concept of sports into a cut-throat competition: A competition where winning is all that matters, even if it involves sacrificing the spirit of sportsmanship.
The Randiv-Sehwag incident is not the first of its kind, but such incidents have been rising every now and then since the dawn of sports, only increasing in number and intensity in the recent years.
The main reason behind such audacious practices is the mental pressure among the sportsmen, which is build up by the huge amount of money and glamour involved in sports these days. These blandishments entice sportsmen to contrive and practice illegal and immoral methods to keep themselves ahead in this blind race for success. However, there are incidents where sportsmen have at times proved that the feeling of satisfaction resulting from honesty is far above the delight of winning. The incident where Adam Gilchrist walked back to pavilion even after being declared not out by the umpire is one of the myriad such examples.
Sportsmen must realize that they do not only play for themselves, but for the country or region they represent and, most importantly, for the spirit of the game. Any negative stance taken by them imperils the image of their country, along with their own. They might win the match as a sportsman, but they lose in their own conscience as a human being. The zeal to win is no doubt a good thing, but if it comes at the cost of one’s morals, then one must prefer to remain insurgent about it.
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