Lifting World Cup was the proudest moment of my life: Sachin Tendulkar after winning Laureus Award

After receiving the Laureus Sporting Moment honour for his International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup-winning moment in 2011, legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar gave an inspiring speech at the award ceremony at Verti Music Hall in Berlin on Monday.

While recalling the moment wherein his teammates carried him on their shoulders after winning the World Cup trophy following India's long wait for 26 years, Tendulkar admitted that it was the "proudest moment of his life".

"It was the proudest moment of my life. Finally, 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," he said after picking up the award. 

Tennis great Boris Becker announced the winner for Laureus best sporting moment in the last 20 years, while former Australian skipper Steve Waugh handed the trophy to Tendulkar.

Tendulkar said that the feeling of winning the World Cup after a wait of two decades could not be expressed in words. 

"It is 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, very rarely there are no opinions, everyone sits together and celebrates. This is a reminder of how powerful sport is and what magic it brings to all our lives," Tendulkar said. 

When quizzed by Becker as to how he felt to wait for more than two decades to finally manage to lift the coveted trophy, the former Indian opener said that he felt a lot of satisfaction and that it had taught him a lesson to never lose hope in life. 

"My journey started in 1983 when I was 10 years old. For those who don't follow cricket, India had won the World Cup. At that time, I did not understand the significance of what just happened and just because everybody was celebrating, I also joined the party. Somewhere I knew something special has happened to the country. I wanted to experience it one day. That is how my journey began," he said. 

Tendulkar further went on to reveal the impact of revolutionary South African leader Nelson Mandela on his life following his meeting with him at the age of 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, I am 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 want to thank them for inspiring youngsters to pick a sport of their choice and chase their dreams. This trophy belongs to all of us," remarked Tendulkar.

The moment, which is titled as 'Carried on the Shoulders of Nation', happened when Tendulkar was lifted on shoulders by teammates Virat Kohli, Harbhajan Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan and others as the team made a lap of honour at Wankhede Stadium after beating Sri Lanka by six wickets in the final of the 2011 World Cup--something which billions of cricket fans across the world can never forget.