iskandar taib wrote:
Cobalt wrote:
I think setting an example for the young players and the whole competition is important and will pay off in the future. You don't want anyone throwing matches in table tennis or life in general. Finals can be a big thing for some people. Got to earn it.
In my mind no doubt you did the right thing.
Table tennis (and sports in general) is one thing.. but life in general? I mean, there are many situations in life where it's of general benefit to let the other guy "win". For instance, letting someone merge into traffic ahead of you on a busy road.
Iskandar
Letting someone merge in to traffic ahead of you on a busy road isn't really about winning, it's about manners and flow of traffic.
It also depends how you define winning. To use your analogy, letting someone merge in to traffic ahead of you on a busy road is also about you winning yourself, you win because you feel good about yourself because you helped someone. By redefining the situation, it becomes a "win win" situation which is the ideal outcome.
In haggisv example, the key to me is as BRS said "If you would feel cheated, then it probably is not the right thing to do."
Would you feel cheated if you let someone out in to the traffic ahead of you? Or would you only feel cheated if you let them out and that person never thanked you?
Would you feel cheated if you found out another team threw a match to ensure "you didn't win" which is the reverse of wording it as "let my team mates win"? I would. Alternatively you could take the approach, if "we" won all our matches, it doesn't matter what any other team does, so let's take it out of their hands and win all our matches so this situation doesn't arise. Use the "fixed outcome" as motivation to improve and become better. In that case you have learned something so you are a winner in yourself.
Everyone has different morals and values. Each to their own.