In the world of sports people often focus on victories and want their preferred team to emerge victorious. While this is understandable spectators as well as players must be comfortable for dealing with losses too as they are inevitable in sports. This must be emphasized to prevent incidents like the ones that occurred in the aftermath of England’s defeat against Italy in Euro 2020. Such incidents can often have ripple effects. In the digital era while people are focused solely on victories, do we ponder about the lives of such players?
Lloyd Fernandes who hails from Santa Cruz in Goa recently made headlines for being awarded a silver medal in the Para Table Tennis National Championship 2021 held at Indore, Madhya Pradesh from 27th to 30th April. Making his debut in the tournament, he made his presence felt by being victorious against opponents from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Punjab. Lloyd was part of a squad that included 8 players and 4 escorts.
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| The talented squad gets appreciated |
It wasn’t a smooth road for the squad though as they had to endure difficulties like the lack of facilities that were accessible by wheelchair for practice, para athletes having to pay expenditures from their pocket including travelling, accommodation and the costs for their meals. They had to travel by flight which was expensive as railways were not accessible. Apart from these, there were other difficulties involved like each para player having to travel with an escort to help them with their daily activities and many unable to bear the expenses of a sports wheelchair.
While Lloyd overcame these challenges by purchasing a 2nd hand table and practicing at home, others in the squad could not afford the same as it was expensive. The other players couldn’t travel with escorts as the costs of such individual were high for the players to bear. A motorbike accident that occurred in Sanquelim in 2016 resulted in a C6 level spinal cord injury that paralysed Lloyd below the chest. Since the doctors had told him a recovery was impossible and added that he has to keep his muscles fit he resorted to playing TT which not only gave him the exercise that he needed but entertained him as well.
Prior to the tournament in Indore, Lloyd had won the district tournaments in Goa in 2021 and 2021. As Lloyd is a geologist, before his injuries he used to work on oil rigs in Brunei, Vietnam and Mynamar. Lloyd and the squad of courageous sportspeople have numerous lessons to teach for everyone. This article has numerous lessons for the readers of my blog. While the point of proving one’s worth is applicable to the average person, it also should be applicable to the entities in power that portray a nationalist image on one hand and on the other destroy the same image by sowing seeds of hatred across India.
In a consumerist society where things can be dictated by fiscal power, asking politicians to prove their worth will bring the focus the societies need rather than trivial matters like conversions and imposing one language spoken by some Indians on the other sections of India. As politicians all over the world find reasons to introduce chaos into the world, may we bring back the unity by telling influential people like politicians to win us over by the quality they induce in societies.
