Understanding the spirit of sports : Alloy in the news and more
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: Ocotber 03, 2014 -

Not very often that an alloy makes it as the lead news of a daily newspaper. That too a bronze.

Read this as a medal in a sports competition and it means the last spot in the list of medal winners but there is a reason why the bronze has suddenly become hot property in Manipur, in the post Asian Games drama, wherein Laishram Sarita was handed the loser’s tag in the semi final bout against Jina Park of South Korea.

Winning and losing is part and parcel of every competition, most often in sports, but it is the manner in which the losers and winners are decided that grab eye balls and what happened on September 30 at the Incheon Asian Games inside a boxing ring was a stuff that had all the ingredients to grab the headlines.

As things have unfolded, the matter did not come to an end on September 30 as Sarita hit the bull’s eye by refusing the bronze medal on October 1 and delivered a dramatic statement by handing over the medal to Jina Park.

A powerful statement it was and delivering it at the medal presentation ceremony of the 17th Asian Games was what made it all that more newsy.

An action that is bound to elicit some response and sure it did.

While Sarita did manage to reach out to a number of people and managed to evoke strong reactions from amongst boxing fans, especially from her home State, Manipur, the boxing ruling body, AIBA saw it in a totally different light and has set its eyes on probing her conduct.

Regretful is the term that AIBA has used to describe her act of returning the medal and inherent in this observation is the point that the governing body is intent on respecting the spirit of fair play and sportsmanship.

Pity that this all important point was given the miss by the referees who judged the outcome of the semi-final match between the two boxers on September 30.

Spirit of fair play and sportsmanship is important, there is no doubt about this.

And it stands that the spirit of fair play and sportsmanship should not only be made applicable to the conduct of a sportsman but also to the manner in which how a match is conducted.

In short, the code of sports should be confined not only to the competitors or sportsmen but also to those who supervise a match.

The same yardstick, in so much as the spirit of the game is concerned, should also apply to the players and the referees.

Here it would be extremely interesting to see what the governing body of boxing intends to do with the referees who supervised the semi-final match.

Is it only going to be Sarita who will be made to face the music, since she had the temerity to refuse a medal at the medal ceremony is a million dollar question.

It would also be prudent to question if the Sarita episode would have kicked up such a debate or made news if she had not protested the way she did.

A question which all those responsible for coming out with the rules and regulations of boxing or any other discipline should seriously introspect.

It is not often that a player take the risk of rubbing the sport the wrong way until and unless the player in question seriously and sincerely feels that he or she has been wronged by some dubious decisions, which may well have been engineered much before.

That Sarita felt wronged is in no doubt. A sentiment shared by numerous others too.