Sports India

INDIA`S teenage tennis sensation Sania Mirza and cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly have raised more than $ 100,000 for India`s tsunami victims.

The stars raised the five million rupees ($ 106,382) by auctioning items like T-shirts, caps, racquets and also through donations by industrialists at a packed stadium in northern hill district of Siliguri in West Bengal state on Saturday.

Mirza, who recently stunned the tennis world by becoming the first Indian woman to reach the third round of Australian Open and is now among the top 100 players, also auctioned the outfit she wore in the Melbourne match.

The perky 18-year-old raised Rs 200,000 ($ 4,255) for the dress – the highest paid for any of the items that went under the hammer.

Ganguly auctioned his cap, gloves and the Indian cricket team`s blue jersey.

‘It`s a cause for the people,’ the cricketing celebrity said. ‘I am always available for such causes. I congratulate the people for their overwhelming response.’

Nearly 11,000 people died when tsunamis lashed India`s southeastern coast last December. More than 7,000 are still declared missing.

Union Sports Minister Sunil Dutt yesterday said that in the wake of Sania Mirza’s superb display on the world women’s circuit, juniors needed to be given encouragement and financial backing to unearth more tennis stars.

“We need to develop sport culture and in this respect Practennis’ commitment needs to be applauded and supported,” he said inaugurating two newly deco turf synthetic tennis courts at Practennis in Andheri. The minister also suggested that the two courts be named `Sania Court’ and `Anjali Bhagwat Court’, to highlight the achievements of Sania and India’s woman shooter Bhagwat.

Talking about the Sania Mirza wave that has gripped the junior tennis fraternity in the country, Dutt said, “It’s time all round encouragement and financial backing be provided to juniors so that India could have many more stars like her.

“Sunil Dutt, who has been nurturing his constituency for nearly five decades, has utilised his MP funds to help Practennis to have two more decco courts in addition to the ones he inaugurated which too were sponsored by him.

The minister also promised financial assistance to help Practennis in having its own stadium with stands. “All that the academy needs to do is to raise 25 per cent of its own, 25 per cent from the state and the rest I would provide from the Centre,” he added.

India’s top woman tennis player Sania Mirza said she was looking forward to playing the Dubai Open with a wild card and would start training today despite her ankle injury."I will try to deliver my best. I am yet to recover from the ankle injury but will start training tomorrow,” Sania, the first Indian woman to win a WTA Open at Hyderabad, told reporters here yesterday.

The 18-year-old tennis sensation, who has turned down a wild card for the Qatar Open beginning today, said she planned to leave for Dubai on February 25-26. However, Sania’s father Imran Mirza said that she was still awaiting the wild card for the Dubai meet. “She expects to get it this week and will leave soon after,” he said.On a whirlwind visit to the metropolis, Sania said she was yet to decide on her next assignment after Dubai and would focus primarily on improving her fitness by undertaking six-eight hours of training daily.

“The next assignments will depend on the condition of my ankle. It is much better now but still there is some pain,” she said. The Hyderabad girl, who shared the dais with Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly and soccer star Bhaichung Bhutia for a fund raising programme at Siliguri on Saturday, had lunch at Sourav’s, the multi-cuisine restaurant owned by Ganguly.
Asked whether she had received any special tips from the cricketer, Sania said, “Sourav gave me some tips on how to grow patience.

“Sania, who entralled the nation by reaching the third round in the Australian Open before breaking into the top 100 ranking, said she was not bogged down by the growing pressure and only wanted to enjoy the game and train harder to improve performance on the court. “I just go on enjoying the game… Enjoy hitting every ball,” she said.