Sachin Tendulkar being lifted on the shoulders of his teammates after their 2011 World Cup win at Mumbai was on Monday (February 17) voted the Laureus best sporting moment in the last two decades.
After early wickets, India bounced back to lift the World Cup at Mumbai, thanks to the batting efforts from Gambhir and Dhoni in the final.
After Dhoni finished it off in style, everyone ran to the ground, lifted Tendulkar who was playing his last world cup.
Former Australian skipper Steve Waugh handed the trophy to Tendulkar. “It’s incredible. The feeling of winning the world cup was beyond what words can express. How many times you get an event happening where there are no mixed opinions. Very rarely the entire country celebrates,” Tendulkar said after receiving the trophy.
“And this is a reminder of how powerful a sport is and what magic it does to our lives. Even now when I watch that it has stayed with me. My journey started in 1983 when I was 10 years old. India had won the World Cup. I did not understand the significance and just because everybody was celebrating, I also joined the party. But somewhere I knew something special has happened to the country and I wanted to experience it one day and that’s how my journey began. It was the proudest moment of my life, holding that trophy which I chased for 22 years but I never lost hope. I was merely lifting that trophy on behalf of my countrymen,” added Tendulkar.
Tendulkar who is the leading run-getter in the World Cup, added that it is a great honour for him to receive the trophy and also spoke about the impact of the great leader Nelson Mandela on him whom he met when he was just 19.
“His hardship did not affect his leadership. Out of many messages he left, the most important I felt was that sport has got the power to unite everyone. Today sitting in this room with so many athletes, some of them did not have everything but they made the best of everything they had. I thank them for inspiring youngsters to pick a sport of their choice and chase their dreams. This trophy belongs to all of us, it’s not just about me,” he concluded.
"This is a reminder of how powerful sport is and what magic it does to all of our lives."
— Laureus (@LaureusSport) February 17, 2020
A God for a nation. An inspiration worldwide.
And an incredible speech from the Laureus Sporting Moment 2000 – 2020 winner, the great @sachin_rt 🇮🇳#Laureus20 #SportUnitesUs pic.twitter.com/dLrLA1GYQS
AUS vs IND- Bumrah, Siraj faces racial abuse at SCG