Sports under attack

A growing number of incidents have shown that the ugliness of political and/or military conflicts have started to spill over into sports. And the worst thing about it is that the respective governing bodies of the sports in question either tolerate these incidents or refuse to take action against them. Either way, these incidents strike at the very heart of sports.

In at least two sports disciplines, tennis and fencing, Ukrainian athletes have or are refusing to shake the hands of their Russian or Belarussian opponents, whether in victory or defeat. I can understand the terrible toll the Russian invasion of Ukraine has on the Ukrainian people. But if they must fight, do it in the battlefields, not in the fields of sports.

When it comes to the war, I can commiserate with the Ukrainian people. I can sympathize with them. But if they bring their anger and hate into the courts and arenas of sports, then I lose all my respect for them. I can only hold them in contempt. I abhor their use of sports, which is supposed to be coldly neutral, to send home a political message.

In a separate incident outside the Russia-Ukraine war, a Hungarian tennis player deliberately erased with her foot a contested ball mark on the line, forcing her Chinese opponent to leave the game in tears. No state of war exists between Hungary, a NATO member, and China, but China is being demonized as a political enemy of the West.

I feel very strongly about these incidents because if there is one thing we should insulate from politics and political conflicts, it is sports. It is sports to which we encourage our beloved children to go and engage in. It is sports that we recognize as a great moulder of character, instiller of values and teacher of discipline. It must not be corrupted by politics.

And when you talk about sports you cannot help but point out the fact that the heart and soul of sports, its very essence and what gives it life and meaning, is sportsmanship. The definition for sportsmanship can be short or long. I simply call it respect for everyone's honor and dignity. Take away sportsmanship and sports is just another base human pastime.

Those who refuse to shake the hands of their opponents for no other reason than that their countries are in conflict are no better than pirates who are only after the loot but are unwilling to play by the rules. And the governing bodies of the sports disciplines that allow this travesty are no better than the deep anonymous oceans that hide their terrible secrets.

These unsportsmanlike athletes are greedy. They know they are bound to meet those from countries they are in conflict with. But they do not stay away. They are after the huge prize money they can earn from these huge tournaments, never mind if these tournaments, as sporting events, require them to abide by certain basic rules on sportsmanship.

In the end the hands the Ukrainian athletes refuse to extend to their Russian opponents as a gesture of sportsmanship in simple compliance with sporting regulations will be the very same hands that will grip their oodles of cash tightly at the end of their sports foray. What a shameful, scandalous, and sickening picture that presents to me.

Already, men are being allowed to compete in women's sports. So if we allow this and other debaucheries of sports to continue, if the governing bodies allow themselves to be held hostage by business considerations in sports, then I must say the days of sports as we know it are numbered. Sports is under attack and no one is doing anything about it.