FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE

It was one of those rarest Sundays, football match between Tottenham Vs Manchester United just got postponed and the sporting world had come to a standstill. No Match, no conferences, nothing but gazing at the beautiful mango garden from my apartment’s balcony, I was searching for some inspirations. At a time when the whole world is fighting with the pandemic two heart-warming moments of success came to my mind:

28th January 2020 at the Rod Laver Arena:

Quarterfinal match was played between the Great Roger Federer and the unseeded Sandergen at the Australian Open Men’s Singles. After saving seven match points the fighting Federer eventually came as winner in a five-set thriller.

“How could you do this?” asked the broadcaster to Federer post-match. "You've got to get lucky sometimes I tell you that," Federer said. "Sometimes you're not under control." I believe in miracles, there could be rain, there could be other stuff.

He was hoping for some delay or stoppages so that he could recover from his sore groin which he developed during the first set of the match. No delay happened that night, he took only an off-court medical time-out for several minutes for treatment of the groin injury, which is an uncharacteristic of Federer. There are couple of things which may resonate with the current situation from this incident.

1. When chips are down, take a step back
2. Break your stereo type
3. Patience is virtue, keep calm and hope for the best
4. Sometimes you got to be extremely lucky
5.  If it’s destined, it’s gonna happen

12th May 2012 at the Allianz Arena:

The Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Chelsea was held in a packed house in Munich. Coming to the match, Bayern was the clear favourite and had the extra advantage of playing in front of the home crowd. They were at number two position in the Bundesliga that year whereas Chelsea was struggling at number six position in the English Premier League with a makeshift manager at their disposal.

The German club was seconds away from lifting the most coveted trophy in European league having scored the solitary goal thanks to Thomas Müller. Chelsea had little more than faith to cling to and it was enough. The Chelsea legend Didier Drogba had other ideas and his stoppage time goal took the match into extra time and the legendary Drogba finally winning it for Chelsea at the penalty shootout. It was a triumph of bloody-minded refusal to capitulate. Couple of lessons we can derive out of this memorable game are

1. When you are determined, you will give everything for the cause, fighting through cramp and exhaustion and with all adversities.
2. When going gets tough, tough gets going
3. Faith begets faith
4. No body can defeat a prepared  determined mind
5. Someone from the oblivion will rise and apply the coup de grace.

When God wishes to protect its finest creation (human beings), he will be with you and bring the luck, grit, resilience and a sense of calmness within you to conquer the Corona pandemic.

Days are not far away when games will be played at the Wembley and the Allianz Arena full house and we can read the score line New World United 1- 0 Novel Corona, whether the match gets over in the stipulated time or in extra time.

This is going to be the moment of dignified humanness and a united world where we all can proudly say “Fortune Favours the brave!”