A new global Indian was born this year. Sania Mirza, a new sporting icon took to citizenship of the world like a duck to water, charming the world with her spunky tee-shirts and dangling ear-rings. The ascent began when she beat then world No. 7 Svetlana Kuznetsova, starred on KBC, and even when she lost to Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. And then she turned 20, became Hyundai brand ambassador, rocketed up to 31 in the WTA rankings, causing much furore and fawning in equal measure.
2005 will go down as a watershed year in the history of Indian tennis as teenage prodigy Sania Mirza burst on the scene and injected fresh blood into a sagging sport.
Sania single-handedly achieved what the past and current men's champions -- the Krishnans and the Amritrajs, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi -- had not been able to for decades: make tennis a popular game and make a dent in cricket's supremacy as the number one sport in India. Also, her powerful groundstrokes caught the tennis world's attention.
No comments:
Post a Comment