Birmingham: When players compete in a badminton match, they are bound to win or lose, but sometimes, winning is not everything.
(source: YouTube)
Malaysia’s men’s singles coach Hendrawan showed everyone the meaning of sportsmanship when he gave his shoes to Jamaican player Samuel Ricketts during the 2022 Commonwealth Games mixed team event Group D action between Malaysia and Jamaica.
Ricketts who was playing against Ng Tze Yong realized the bottom of his right shoe was torn but his coach only found a regular running shoe rather than a badminton shoe from a teammate so that he could continue the match.
Ng first offered his shoes but Ricketts didn’t take them probably due to different shoe size.
Then, Hendrawan walked straight to Ricketts and gave him the shoes, which seemed to be the same brand and same model, and could also same size as well. After giving Ricketts his shoes, Hendrawan continued to coach Ng with only socks on.
Ng ultimately won the match with 21-12, 21-16 and led Malaysia to beat Jamaica 5-0.
Malaysia has also emerged as the champion of Group D after beating South Africa 5-0 on Saturday.