Some people argue that athletes, while playing games, should adhere to the principle "Friendship first, competition second," and that is the true sportsman ship.
Personally, I disagree with this point of view. There is no denying that competitors should befriendly with each other. However, the primary concern of every player, after hard training fora year or two, is to win the game. His sole motivation, either during the training or in therace, is prompted by a looming hope and a prospective championship. Be it a chess game or acompetition of weight-lifting or a race of a hundred-metre dash, the case is always true. If he wins the game, high rewards, flowers and honour will pile upon him. If he losesonce or twice, he will become less courageous for the third time. However, several lossesmay beat him down, and his next battle, if he is daring to fight, will probably bea fiasco.
So, in my mind, the fun or happiness of playing a game lies in the athlete's ultimateachievement of the goal. We all know Napoleon's famous saying that a soldier who does nothave the ambition to become a marshal is not a real soldier. I agree that an unambitiousathlete is not a real athlete.