The missing sportsmanship in sports

[Music]

we all grew up hearing this phase

sportsman spirit now sportsman spirit

stems from the fact that sports is

generally considered an

equalizer of sorts something that

doesn’t really take

race gender cast

or skin color into account

in fact it focuses on your talent

your skills strength

and above all meritocracy where your

performance in the sporting field

is more important and more relevant than

anything else

now i grew up in the same context

with five boys all cousins

i got bullied and because i used to

spend so much time with them

by default i started playing sports with

him

predominantly cricket because that is

the biggest sport in pakistan

but i was compelled to learn and to face

challenges

just by being amongst five boys

initially it didn’t really bode well

with me but

as i started playing it and watching it

and studying it i started really

enjoying it

and soon this became

my passion yeah

sports became my passion you cannot

imagine how

disappointed they see parents would be

when they find out

that their child is skipping an exam

to follow an event the world cup was on

at that particular time

and i made my choices quite wisely

because i decided to watch that and skip

my

exam that is how passionate i became as

i was growing up

i decided to even save money during the

2009

world t20 i was obviously a student at

that point of time

and i decided to go and watch all the

games

rest assured i was broke by the end i

had absolutely no money

but it was well worth it i was watching

and being

a part of something that i absolutely

loved so when i graduated from england

you know i looked up various

opportunities and

i was in that limbo phase where a lot of

you must be at some point in your life

where you just didn’t know what to do

as a stopgap solution i decided that i

want to do a

corporate job which

was something that i did for a year but

i soon

realized that i’m not cut out for this

my passion

was still sports but i did that

corporate job

and there i had my own share of

challenges

i faced a racist boss i was literally

the only brown girl

in that entire department and he used to

pick on me

on every little occasion eventually i

quit the job

and i had to do some soul searching and

really

understand what is my true calling

i decided that you know i will pursue my

passion

and i will look for opportunities in the

sporting world

because the sporting world should be the

torch bearer of sportsmanship

free of racism free of prejudices

but i was quite wrong in 2015

i was given the opportunity to audition

for a leading news channel within

pakistan

if i’m totally honest i did not want to

go

i had no formal media training i had

no idea how to face a camera

my family had no relevance to the media

but because it was my passion talking

about sports

watching sports my parents really pushed

me

into giving it a go so i ended up you

know nonchalantly turning up

at the door and i had an interviewer

there who was sitting

with a smart on his face

and the first question as i sat down i

still

vividly remember he asked me

reverse swing kyoti

i had a smile on my face because i knew

what context he’s asking me in

it was said in almost the most

condescending way possible

i answered politely he was

half impressed so to speak and he

decided based on those five minutes

that he will give me another opportunity

and that is how

my journey started

which is why there are certain rules of

life that i swear by

the number one is never stop dreaming

even if the world makes fun of you

while getting into it i really had no

mentors to look up to

i was not a tv buff i didn’t see a lot

of shows

i was just following my dream and my

passion

when i did enter this field there were a

lot of people who made a lot of fun of

me

because they believed that a woman

cannot be talking about sports

she cannot be playing sports she has no

business there

this was just the beginning of many

challenges that i faced

it wasn’t only about changing

perceptions

and the mentality that is out there

with our people it was also about

facing personal challenges on my front

remember i didn’t have any formal

training in the field of sports

and i really wanted to make a name for

myself and excel in it

because once i started i realized that

this is my true calling

this is what i should be doing it was

then

when i really discovered a major issue

a personal disability so i’m deaf from

my left ear

and while doing a show your ears are the

most

important thing that keep you facilitate

and manage a show i had my earpiece in

one ear

listening to the director and supposedly

your other air

is to be used to hear all the guests

that are sitting around you

the moment i started getting training

i had a feeling that this was something

that i wouldn’t be able to do or manage

it was about multitasking it was about

using both your senses

it was about being present because

remember

there are no errors on live tv there’s

no room for any errors

at that particular time you get exposed

very easily

so i have to say that i broke down that

day when i realized that i have this

problem

i never thought that i would find myself

in that place

but i broke down and i still remember

calling up my mother and saying

i don’t think i can do this job because

i’ve got this issue

i had to calm down and remember

you should never stop trying even when

it seems herculean

i was so determined and focused i

continued to train i continued to master

my skills

and guess what i somewhat managed to lip

read as well

what worked for me was my knowledge and

research about my subject

the rest was all improvisation

the initial reaction when i was doing

this was rather mixed

a lot of people took attention to what i

was doing

they were pointing out the fact that

hair is a lady who knows what she’s

talking about

but when you start becoming successful

when you start getting recognition the

flip side is that there are a lot of

people

that will envy your work and will be

jealous of you

that happens in every field that you

walk into

and it happened with me as well i had

fellow journalists from my same industry

putting allegations on me for imitating

their content

for being there due to various reasons

i soon learned how to develop a thick

skin

i realized that i need to keep my focus

and i need to stay even more ambitious

to be where i am

focus is the one thing that kept me

going

even in times of adversity there was

also a time by the way

when some of the cricketing legends that

i looked up to

refused to give me an interview due to

my gender

that has happened i was heartbroken

because as a child these were the heroes

that i looked up to

and by the way after a couple of years

the two gentlemen who did refuse to give

me an interview willingly gave me an

interview afterwards that was the irony

of it all

because by that time i had really

cemented my place in the industry

but it does make you think and reflect

upon these things because

anyone who’s starting out would face

all these issues like i said

the one thing that stood out was my

passion for the job

and that is what kept on giving me

opportunities after one after another

i think the world here was just not

prepared they were just not

used to seeing a woman taking lead

in her field which was normally guarded

by men

for so many years another rule that i

live by

is never ever let the critics bother you

and allow them to get under your skin

because that is something that will

happen

as i got lucky and got more

opportunities

i got offers to host bigger leagues

i did the psl the t10

i covered the pakistan cricket team all

around the world

in australia south africa i was

reporting from there

and i kept on giving my best my hundred

percent and also getting

more opportunities in return and finally

in 2019 i was hand-picked

by the international cricket council to

represent pakistan

at the world cup that was certainly the

peak of my career because

nobody ever from pakistan had reached

that level

certainly not a woman with the increase

of work

my social media following also kept

increasing

the increased number of following also

resulted in

the increased number of harassment and

trolling online

i’m sure you’ve all seen it what we all

go through

it’s also called cyber bullying

in 2017 i clearly remember i went to

cover the champions trophy

and you know as i looked up to certain

heroes

i decided to take a few pictures with

them a few selfies which

then became extremely popular um

i took a few pictures with the heroes

that i looked up to virat kohli

abe davids and the moment i took a

picture with them

they just had a really bad outing and on

the cricket field the next day and got

out on a duck

i was termed up a nothi by the indian

media

for those of you who don’t know what it

means it’s a curse

i could see so many links saying that i

was involved in some kind of a black

magic

i was trying to do some kind of a voodoo

on the indian cricket team

and i had to face so much online

trolling

at that particular point

but i had to remember that this was

something which was extremely irrelevant

i internalized all these behaviors by

the way

and i learned to keep myself focused

on my professional development and

career

despite all the prejudices despite all

the

wavering attitudes that i had to face

i had to remember that my

work was my priority over the past one

year

women in sports have gained

unprecedented attention

there were 80 000 people watching that

women’s t20 world cup this year

at the mcg something that we’ve never

seen before perhaps the biggest

sporting spectacle in the history of the

women’s world cup

it’s also indicative of how big the

women’s game is now becoming

the kind of exposure the girls are

getting and this is also

raised awareness about gender parity

equal pay equal opportunities

women are now great participants and

it’s great to see

that leadership roles are being given

out to them as well

however the pandemic of covet 19

threatens to erase this momentum

because the sporting world has been

forced to cancel events

the sporting world has been forced to

stay indoors

more so for women lastly

i think this is something which is very

personal to me

it’s extremely important to impart your

skills

and knowledge to the people that you

work with

be generous don’t be a hoarder you must

give back

we need to be able to be aware

of inclusiveness unbiasedness when it

comes to

gender now if you look at this industry

we have a hajj rakhan in football

we have more women commentators coming

into the field

like sanamir mumtaz marina igbal the

list is endless

all around the world there has been an

evolution of inclusion of women in

sports

so the list is endless now and it is

great to see

that opportunities are being given and

respect is being given

to all these women that is the true

sporting spirit

and sportsmanship that we talk about

it’s based on fair play

it’s based on talent and

equality women need to be equal

participants in building their lives

back up

amidst covert 19. for women and girls

sports are a powerful tool to challenge

their

gender stereotypes to regain ownership

of their bodies

to really rebuild their lives after

trauma and to find a real sense of

meaning and purpose to their life

and to be able to express their talent

and passion

professionally because i believe

that if there are more women in the

field they will push for equality and

meritocracy ultimately leading to the

true

embodiment of sportsmanship