Choke versus Panic
'Choking' is very much a part of sport
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
'Choking' is very much a part of sport. Ask Greg Norman or Jana Navotna, the former's meltdown in the final round of the 1996 Masters and the latter's collapse in the 1993 Wimbledon final. Talk of choking in cricket and you think South Africa. Neil Manthorp analyses cricket's repeat-offenders in the Mail and Guardian Online.
Later they both described how they felt, as though they were moving in slow-motion, unable to change the tempo or affect the flow of the contest. Crowd noises seemed muffled, words of advice only half penetrated their heads as though trapped outside by a mucous membrane. Defeat was still such a long way off as they entered their state of choke that nobody believed it was inevitable, or even likely. Except, that is, for Norman and Novotna.
Kanishkaa Balachandran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo