"The Passion for the Game"

Sports have the potential to bring the best out of us.

 January is the month of the first Grand Slam of tennis, the Australian
Open. This year it started on 19 January. Being a tennis buff, I
followed it closely.

I was delighted to see Nadal advancing through the upper half of the
draw as I am a true Nadal fan. Roger Federer was also moving with ease
through the bottom half of the draw. When both Nadal and Federer made
to semis, I was pleased to anticipate an epic final. Hence, on the
29th, I left for Rabwah, my hometown. On that very day, Roger made Roddick lick the dust by defeating him 6-2, 7-5, 7-5.

The second semi-final was between Nadal and Verdasco on Friday, 30
January, at 1:30 PM Pakistan Standard Time. When I reached home, I was
told that the local cable operator had blocked Star Sports for some
unknown reason. The news struck me like a bolt from the blue. All the
odds were against me as I had to combat with the load shedding
problem too. These days, Pakistan is suffering from a severe
electricity shortage leading to a daily power cut-off for at least
14-16 hours.

I completed my Friday prayers at 1:30 PM. Then Mahmood, my friend, and
I went to the cable operator and asked him about the recent blockage
of Star Sports. He told us that it was due to a technical fault. We
requested that he rectify it as soon as possible. He said it would be solved in 10 minutes.

When I reached home, it was 1:55 PM and the score was 1 game each. At
2:00 PM, the power was cut off. I called Mahmood and we decided to
meet at Tahir Heart Institute's cafeteria, as it has a 42-inch LCD.
The cafeteria is never out of power as it is within the hospital
premises. To our dismay, it was closed. We had forgotten that it is
closed on Fridays.

We went to Mobahil's house, and he proved to be a good Smaritan. He
has a UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) and an ACER laptop. At that
time I told Mahmood about Australian Open radio and live scoring. His
face gained a sprightly look. For two hours, we kept a constant check
on AO radio. At 4:00 PM, the score was one set apiece and then the
light came back. We hasted to our houses.

When I reached the threshold of my house, I was told that the power
had again been cut off. My heart sank into my boots. It was 4:15 PM. I
called Mahmood and we decided to wait for the light until 5:00 PM. In
the meantime, I tried to activate the GPRS on my cell phone, but the
operator was too busy.

It was 5:00 PM -- still no sign of light. I was at my wit's end, but I
didn't lose heart and gathered my wits once more. I called my friend
in Lahore to ask the score, but he was in the bazaar. I called another
friend, but there was no light in his block either.

At 5:15 PM, I called Mahmood and we met at Mobahil's house again to
use his ACER laptop and listen to AO radio. At 5:45 PM, the light came
back and the score was 2 sets apiece. At that time, the match was in a
real cliffhanger -- it was any one's game. My house was 3 km away andMahmood's was just 1.5 km away. I decided to go to Mahmood's house as
I couldn't bear to miss even a second of the remainder of the match,
but the problem was that we only had one bicycle. I decided thatMahmood should ride the bike and that I would run alongside him. In
that way, we made it to his house in about 6 minutes. I was
breathless.

Tears of joy came to my eyes when I caught the sight of live tennis on
TV because my toil had not been in vain -- it had been rewarded at
last. My body got numb and a sublime feeling took hold of me. I felt
as if my purpose on this planet had been fulfilled. The crowning of
the whole episode was that Nadal eventually prevailed in five
thrilling sets.

In the end, I just want to say that this writing not only shows my
commitment and passion for sports but also that every sports fan is as
passionate, enthusiastic and zealous as I am, or probably more.    Highlights of this Great Match