Mumbai . Lamenting that India is not a sporting nation, tennis legend Sania Mirza expressed her disappointment at missing out on an Olympic medal, saying the day she and Rohan Bopanna lost the bronze medal match at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016. It was “one of the worst days” of his life. Sania has won three women’s doubles and three mixed doubles titles at the Grand Slams, apart from gold medals at the 2006 Doha and 2010 Incheon Asian Games. She is the only Indian woman player to be ranked No. 1 in doubles and top-30 in women’s singles during a professional career spanning two decades from February 2003 to February 2023.
Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna bronze medal match at the 2016 Rio Olympics They lost to Czech Republic’s Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek. In an interview with former Indian cricketer Veda Krishnamurthy on GeoCinema’s original show ‘Home of Heroes’, Sania said, “I feel if my career is something like What I think I am missing is probably an Olympic medal. We came very close to it in Rio in 2016 and I don’t usually cry after losing matches, but it’s like “Sometimes when I still feel sad when I think about it.” “Winning an Olympic medal for my country, for myself and for my family is any athlete’s biggest dream and we came very, very close to it, We came painfully close to it. I mean, coming in fourth in the Olympics is the worst.
You would like to come in 30th place, not in fourth place. Three get a medal and then the fourth gets nothing. So, it was very painful, it was one of the worst days of my and Rohan’s life for many reasons. “But yes, we had to finish the match,” Sania said, according to a release. spoke about her views on how the nation can become. On her ‘love-hate’ relationship with the media, Sania said, “I think media is not trolling, media is media. I’ve had a love-hate relationship with . Lately, it’s become more love than hate.” Earlier there used to be more hatred than love. But, in the process, I’ve also made some good friends in the media, I think initially when I arrived, everyone was surprised because there weren’t any other female athlete stars out there.
Sania was quoted as saying in the release, “And so it was a fun journey for both of us. I think they were learning. At some point it got boring to talk only about forehand and backhand. So, They started talking about what I wore, who I had dinner with and who I didn’t, why I had dinner. So, I guess they needed to sell their newspapers and I needed to protect my sanity. But With time, we have grown to like. Have grown stronger towards each other and we have a great rapport now,” Sania said facing media scrutiny in a career spanning two decades.
That some media persons discussed about her dress and it didn’t affect her as her parents supported her. “I was not conscious at all. I think a lot of it was created by the media because it got boring to talk about the same girl who played forehand and backhand every day, so how much would they want to talk about it? So, it got boring and they wanted to spice it up and a lot of my issues that happened to me in my early years were unfortunately created by the media. And it was like that. And I was never nervous. And that’s because I had my parents.
I knew that he had my back no matter what. And I think that’s where my parents came in, where they had this solid foundation for me, where I believed, no matter what happens in my life, that’s the core. I will not tell. So, I was never scared to do anything because I always knew that he is with me.” Asked what needs to be done for the country to get another Sania Mirza, the Hyderabad-born tennis ace said said that this could only be done by changing the whole culture, investing in sports and establishing a system that nurtures children from a young age. “We cannot become a sporting nation four months before the Olympics and then four Months later a sports nation can be formed and then it will remain so for four years. We are not a sporting nation.
We are a cricket nation. And people don’t like it when I say that. but it’s true. And sometimes you have to hear the truth to make a difference. We are nobody, especially when a girl is born, we don’t say, ‘Let’s make her an athlete.’ Not exactly as stated. If you go to Australia, it is a sporting country where you go and watch any game and it is packed.” Sania said, “So, firstly, we have to change the culture, secondly, We have to set up a system and thirdly, we have to nurture children from the age of eight, nine, ten and not wait for them to become something and then invest money in them or invest time in them. Also, I think it is very important that we have the right kind of coaches and trainers, whether they are brought in from outside to train the people we have here or just to nurture.
These kids you are recognizing will be your tomorrow.” Sania is married to Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik and lives in Dubai. Sania also talked about her motherhood, saying that when she was no more Having a baby was a conscious decision when she was in the top 10, returning to the circuit with her son, losing 26 kilos in four months and winning her first tournament in Hobart, Australia. “For me, it It wasn’t just about proving to myself that I had tennis left in me at the highest level. This, as I said, was also to set an example that as young mothers, your life does not end because of you having a child, it is the beginning of life. “And just because you put yourself forward, it doesn’t make you a bad mother. It doesn’t make you a bad person or a bad woman.
It makes you human. And if a man without thinking twice about it can do it, so why can’t a woman do it? So, these were some of the inspirations that I had. And when people say I can’t do it, I have to do it. Like there’s no way That we are not doing that.” That was the rebel in me,” Sania said.
