Shri Pradeep Gandhe
Life is the way it is and it is we how we perceive, how we learn from our successes, failures, dilemmas and keep moving ahead with optimism.
Badminton is a great game and after having achieved and learnt so much from this game, it has been a guiding force for me to lead my life so far, may it be in corporate world or dealing with patience in day to day life or handling pressures from all corners or coping up with human relations.
“HONESTY PAYS” is imbibed in our minds right from our childhood but without the addendum of relevance. In the year 1976, Badminton wizard Prakash Padukone played singles finals against top world class Indonesian Illie Sumirat in New Delhi’s Talkatora stadium. Scores tied
up at 16 all in the final set in an absorbing match, received a lineman’s decision distinctly in his favour much to his surprise and he returned the shuttlecock to his opponent but then the umpire ruled that he cannot reverse the line call. Being an honest person to the
core, Prakash threw away the next service & returned the serve back to his opponent. of Sumirat intentionally. The game and match was won by Sumirat but Prakash gained immense and admiration from fans and sports lovers all over the world.
These acts of honesty were a hotly debated subject among the sporting fraternity for a long time, as a lot of them were of the opinion that decision such as line calls should be left to the umpires and that players should just abide by them.
Prakash, however, learnt this the hard way when, with roles reversed in a similar situation, he lost his title to Fleming Delf, the Danish great. During a crucial juncture of the game Prakash tapped a shuttle at the net & it brushed Fleming Delf’s during the rally ( a fault) who continued to play as if nothing had happened. Inspite of an objection raised by Prakash, who expected Fleming Delfs to acknowledge the fault, the Umpire over ruled Prakash and warded the point to Delf, who went on to win the match & the title.
After the match, Delf agreed to the fault but was of the firm opinion that it was the umpire’s decision and he could not have done anything about it.
I was playing against Arjun Awardee Partho Ganguli for a place in the team for Asian Games, Bangkok, 1998. Our scores were 15-17(match point) in Partho’s favour. At that stage I tapped the shuttle at the net (a fault) which went unnoticed by the umpire and Partho who thought I had won the point and the match. Thye were taken aback when I shook hands with Partho congratulating him for winning the match. I ended up losing my place in the Indian team but what I cherish even today is the standing ovation I received from the full house at the Northern stadium in Gorakhpur.
“True team Spirit”
The 1982 Asian Games held in New Delhi shall forever remain fresh in my memory because of one example of true team spirit by one of India’s leading sports persons. Prakash Padukone, at that time a professional player was disallowed from playing in games at the last minute. Though he was extremely disappointed at not being allowed to play he chose to stay back with the team to boost their morale. He made it a point to attend all the matches and the team boosted by his presence ended up winning the maximum medals.
“Unity in Diversity”
In 1979 India had beaten Malaysia in the Asian zone Thomas Cup finals held in Kuala Lumpur. Inspite of ebing worried about the huge size of the halls, heavy drift and not enough acclimatization, our manager Shri Fazil Ahmed waged a psychological war with the Malaysians by declaring to the media that we were confident of a win. The energized us enough to win the Tie 5-4, with Prakash and Syed Modi winning 2 matches each The last crucial tie was won by Sanjay Sharma and yours truly giving the tie to India. It was truly a great feeling to be a part of the team that won against all odds.
(Published in the Chembur Ghatkopar Olympics, 2005)
