Not when you are playing a cricket match in your neighbourhood, not when you are playing a board game with your family, and especially not when you are playing at the Olympics for the country.

But it’s by looking at athletes like you that the rest of the nation understands that losing is a part of the game.

It’s by looking at athletes like you that we learn how to accept defeat. 

Thank you for that.

And thank you for teaching us the spirit of fighting. 

Which demands that you must give your best each time, without knowing what it will lead to.  

Which demands you to keep at it, to keep going, to keep punching.

And lastly, thank you for showing us what winning truly means.

In sports, it is easier to figure that out, but in life, it need not be.

Because life does not come with a rule book.

You, however, make it look so easy. 

You’re a champion on and off the court, making us wonder how one person can do it all?!

It must take something special. You are special. 

So as you bow out, please look up. 

The country is a stadium today and all 1.3 billion of us are spectators. 

Spectators who are standing with pride to bid adieu to their hero. 

Look how we are united in our admiration for you.

So yes, losses are tough, but there is so much more to your legacy than some numbers on a scorecard. 

Your legacy, like any other champion, is about teaching people that truly wanting to win and working hard for it, is what really matters. And after that, if you lose, well, you dust your hands and try again.

We are looking at you dusting your hands, we know there is so much more to come.