Nerves

Friday nights ought not to be so stressful. I hadn't plan to watch the Olympics Games but while I was waiting for my dinner I decided to see what was on. Turned out to be the Men's Badminton semi-finals between Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei and China's Lin Dan. It was a torture to watch. Both these men were going all out to make each other lose. Punch for punch, it was brutal. Not knowing for sure just drives me crazy. If there was a way to fast forward the live telecast, I would have pressed the button.

I skipped over most of the other semi-final match. It wasn't a close fight and I needed some shut eye because I realised that the Women's Finals was next. Turned out to be a good strategy because the Spain vs India finals was another nail-biter. I've not been following badminton for a long time so I have not seen either women play before. Spain's Carolina was the strong favourite but India's Sindhu put up an excellent fight. The women were more vocal during the match compared to their male counterparts. It felt like the Grand Slams.

Just when I thought the live telecast was over, I realised that the Men's Doubles Finals was next. I was a bag of nerves watching that match. I could almost picture my brother in KL going hysterical over the closely fought match. Both teams were equally forceful and it could have gone either way.  If there was a way to call it a draw, somebody would have because it was too hard to watch either teams lose. But at last, China won and you could see the visible pain on one of the Malaysian player's face. Disappointment is bitter. The agony of defeat.

I stumbled on the matches while waiting for my dinner and ended up with more than 5 hours of nerves. And my mind is still on hyperdrive now. If I was playing, I would have been overcome by the fear of defeat. I salute these athletes who dare to try, dare to fight and dare to lose for the sake of trying to win.