Sports India

She might have conquered a billion Indian hearts winning her maiden WTA title in Hyderabad, but Sania Mirza has her head firmly on the shoulder.

As she gears up to compete in her first Tier 2 event on the WTA Tour in Dubai next week, Sania has set a modest target for herself: to win the first round of the $5,85,000 event.

“My aim is to win the first round. I am not looking much beyond at the moment,” said the 18-year old.

“It is a very big tournament for me. The top 30 players will be competing in the event, including number one Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams and others.

“So it is going to be tough for me, and my aim will be to win the first round,” said the 98th ranked Sania, who entered the main draw with a wild card.

High profile event

The Hyderabad girl became the first Indian to win a WTA title early this month in her hometown, which came soon after she reached the third round of the Australian Open grand slam.

Whereas the Hyderabad Open was a Tier 4 event with $1,40,000 in prize money, the Dubai event is much more high profile with the cut off applied at 35.

The women’s event follows the ATP Tour men’s event with equal prize money.

Sania said neither the weight of expectations nor the ankle injury that she had endured during her winning run in Hyderabad had hampered her preparations.

The left ankle that she injured two weeks before the Australian Open in mid-January still bothers her, although the right one that she twisted during play in Hyderabad has completely heeled

India’s top woman badminton player Aparna Popat has been appointed the global brand ambassador for Indian handicrafts. Popat recently won the national title for the eighth time in a row. She is the third Indian sportsperson to be signed on for the promotion after ace golfer Jeev Milkha Singh and hockey ace Gagan Ajit Singh.

Newly-found women tennis sensation Sania Mirza, who created history by becoming the first Indian to capture a WTA singles title after a spectacular win at the Hyderabad Open, today joined the “Pulse Polio” eradication programme in New Delhi.

The pulse polio drive, organised by the National Polio Plus Committee of Rotary International, is part of the country’s long-running campaign against the crippling disease.

The Hyderabad-based 18-year girl, who also cracked the top 100 in the rankings, administered polio drops to little children at a function in New Delhi. “I think we should try and make India a polio-free country. Well, I would just send message across to many people regarding this. I hope that I can help in some way, in whatever way I am doing right now,” she said.

Deepak Kapur, chairman of the polio committee, said that they have roped in Mirza to woo Muslim mothers to give drops to their children who form a significant 60 per cent of the polio-affected cases. “We are targeting Sania Mirza specifically in getting her message to reach the Muslim mothers’ children. Because 60 per cent of the children who contracted polio last year were Muslims. India is predominantly a Hindu majority nation. These figures take a special significance because for a minority community to throw up 60 percent of the cases is very very significant. So we need to enthuse the mothers to give drops to their children,” he said.

India’s Pulse Polio Program began in 1995 and millions of kids have been given the life-saving vaccine so far. But, the past year has seen the resurgence of the disease in many pockets, - most cases being reported from Uttar Pradesh. In 2002, the state accounted for 1242 cases (66 percent of all polio cases) reported worldwide.

The global polio Technical Consultative Group (TCG) has identified India as one of 20 countries that remained at risk of continued transmission of the disease. Interruption of polio ransmission in the country is crucial for the global target of a polio-free world by the year 2005.

For long cricketers were the only sportspersons to get mobbed in India, but a petite teenager now enjoys similar star status. - Sania Mirza

In less than a month, 18-year-old tennis player Sania Mirza has built up such a maniac fan following that security guards have been hired to keep them at bay outside her home.

Reaching the third round of a Grand Slam or winning a low-profile WTA event may not mean much the world over, but it has helped Mirza live a dream in a country starved of top-class sports stars.

“The success that I have got is unbelievable,” Mirza said after getting past two rounds at the recent Australian Open and clinching her maiden WTA title in her hometown last week.

Both achievements were firsts by an Indian woman tennis player, as was her breaking into the top 100.

“I was aiming to crack the top 100 by the year-end but now I hope to make it to the top 50,” said Mirza, who shot up to 99 in world rankings after her recent good run.

As much as her powerful strokes and positive attitude, Mirza’s good looks and charm have floored Indians and attracted sponsors in hordes.

At least 18 major companies approached her managers - doubles specialist Mahesh Bhupathi’s sports management Globosport company - but only three have been given the green signal to endorse her.

“We have numerous offers but we are being selective,” said her father Imran Mirza. “We don’t want commercial interests to affect her game.”

The youngster, who sports a glittering nose-stud, is reportedly as much in demand as many frontline cricketers and only below superstars Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid.

But Mirza has promised more than just glamour.

“I don’t go on to the court to look glamorous but to win matches,” she reacted after being voted the second most popular woman in the Australian Open after Russian Maria Sharapova.

“I have always idolised Steffi Graf and my aim is to have a long and memorable career,” said Mirza, who has won 12 ITF titles, five of them in 2004.

“I really need to work hard on my fitness for that,” added Mirza, who made the final of the Asian Championship in Tashkent last year to gain a wild card for the Australian Open.

“She has tremendous potential and it is great to see an Indian woman tennis player show such promise,” Bhupathi said after Mirza won her maiden WTA title.

Mirza, who had a stint with celebrated Australian coach Bob Brett last year, has raised hopes for the Federation Cup since another promising player Shikha Uberoi has been allowed to represent India.

Uberoi, who has played all her tennis in the United States, has been partnering Mirza in doubles and the duo are the brightest prospects since Nirupama Vaidyanathan won a round at the Australian Open in 1998.

India has produced fine men’s tennis players like twice Wimbledon semi-finalist Ramanathan Krishnan, the charismatic Vijay Amritraj and Leander Paes and Bhupathi, but few women made the grade till Mirza came along.

Cricketers beware. The likes of Mirza, Olympic silver-winning shooter Rajyavardhan Rathore, long-jumper Anju Bobby George and the country’s first F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan are there to share the limelight - and sponsors.