Sania Mirza: Sports for girls is becoming more of a career option

The 33-year-old won her first grand slam title in mixed doubles category back in 2009.

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza has affirmed women’s sport in India is on the correct pathway. She believes that the scenario has improved massively ever since she started off her journey as a professional athlete. She recently appeared on a chat show named ‘Double Trouble with Smriti & Jemi and expressed her opinions on these issues.

“When I started I used to play on tennis courts made out of cow dung. We used to have to take tetanus injections to have to play tennis in case we fell so that there won’t be any infection,” said Sania Mirza.

She also opined that back then PT Usha was the only renowned woman athlete in the country. She remarked, “Twenty five years down the line, we can now at least name 10-15 star women athletes from this country. That itself shows how much we progressed. Sports for girls is becoming more of a career option."

Sania Mirza has been a remarkable doubles player in the tennis circuit, having won six Grand Slam titles in her career. She has also been a former world number one in the doubles category. She had undertaken a maternity break for close to two years but made a return to the sport earlier this year.

She won the Hobart International along with Nadia Kichenok in January this year. However, Sania Mirza had suffered a calf injury and that resulted in her team’s ouster in the first round of the Australian Open 2020.

Speaking on her comeback to professional support, she stated, “The first time I stepped on a treadmill I felt so heavy that I thought I was never going to lose the weight again. Four months later I lost 26 kgs. It was very hard. It took a lot of stubbornness and a lot of determination.”

Elaborating furthermore on the same, the tennis star quipped that she followed the instructions of a dietician who assigned her a set diet. Thereafter, she used to do two and a half hours of cardio each day too.

“My trainer came after I lost 20 kgs and then for six weeks I started tennis-based training, which included everything for about three hours a day. It was only after five months that I started playing tennis,” Mirza concluded.

Despite her illustrious career spanning close to two decades, an Olympic medal has deserted the sportswoman. Maybe, the postponement of the Games to 2021 would provide her additional time to return back to the groove and make a prominent attempt for the same.