Sports India

Sania Mirza, the Hyderabad tennis sensation joined hands with Tata Indicom on Thursday to launch signature handsets of TATA Indicom.

The 18-year-old tennis player hit it big when she entered the third round of the Australian Open and went down to Serena Williams. She also won the Hyderbad Women’s Open, a WTA-ranked event and entered the quarter-finals of the Dubai Open recently, pushing her world ranking into the top 80 slots.

Present on the occasion Sania said, she was happy to join hands with the company (TATA Indicom) which have the best players endorsing for it.

“It is a matter of pride for me to be associated with such a group specially. I think with company of such great sportsmen,obviously an honour for me.Most young people like me nurture associations with TATA group,” said Sania Mirza.

Prabhat Pani,the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of TATA Tele Services (Andhra Pradesh and Katrnataka) said that Sania brought name and fame to the country and the youth will certainly show interest in buying the phone.

“We want that we should acquire number one position, so to reach here if Sania graces our phone with her signature it will be good for us,” said Prabhat Pani,COO of TATA Tele Services.

The TATA Indicom is launching the signature phones of Sania and Saurav Ganguly. Sania has emerged as favourite among the corporates because of her youth icon status.

When Narain Karthikeyan takes the grid at the Sepang track on Sunday, he may have the eerie feeling of driving at the Sriperumbudur race track, for the Malaysian Grand Prix organisers are expecting an influx of nearly 2,000 Indians for the second race of the season in Kuala Lumpur on March 20.

“Last year there were around 800 Indians but this year that number is likely to double. The number may pick up around the race weekend and even touch 2000,” Azhar Ghazali, head of media operations at the Sepang International Circuit told TOI on Tuesday. “There have been a lot of promotions in India and our agents there have promised a good response,” he added.

Trust Holidays and Kuoni Travels are the only two registered international agents for the Sepang International Circuit and the two companies have managed to drum up quite a response between them.

Trust Holidays have sold 250 tickets, including more than 150 special Formula One packages which include race tickets, accommodation, airfare and taxes for just Rs 31,500. Kuoni, who till last year were actively involved in the promotion of the Malaysian GP have now devised niche, need-driven packages for about 15-20 corporates.

A majority of motor-racing enthusiasts have booked their tickets online on websites such as malaysiangp.com, pitpass.com, formula1.com, grandprix-tickets.com with the only condition being a confirmed return ticket in hand. And it’s not just the rich and famous who are making the trip.

Malaysia’s attractiveness as a tourist destination has made it viable for even the not so rich which may make Sepang the Indian F1 fans’ favourite Asian destination.

“Bahrain or even Shanghai is bound to be more expensive. Malaysia as a destination is very pocket-friendly. It’s being promoted brilliantly. It is accessible and affordable, both in terms of airfare as well as hotels,” Rashmi Chotmarada, owner of a travel agency said.

Though there is a sizeable number of Indians that do land up in Kuala Lumpur every year, this year the pulling factor is obviously Karthikeyan. “Narain’s presence in Formula One is definitely a pulling factor. Indians are the third largest ethnic group in Malaysia and they are quite excited. Our promotion outlets are making special F1 promotions about Narain,” Ghazali said.

He added, “We’re hoping to attract more F1 enthusiasts from India following Karthikeyan not just this year but also in the future.”

Agreeing with that view are industry insiders. “Karthikeyan being there in F1 will give people more of a reason to follow the sport. In fact, we’re likely to see more people from south India travelling to Malaysia,” Rodney Andrade, manager of Trust Holidays said.

After endorsing Lotto, Malabar Gold and HPCL, tennis star Sania Mirza has been roped in by Tata Indicom with the launch of a limited edition of ‘Signature Series’ of handset called ‘Sania Fone’.

Prabhat Pani, COO, AP and Karnataka circle of Tata teleservices said, “The youth is a big market for Tata Indicom and the launch of ‘Sania Fone’ is one such effort to connect with this segment.”

The teenaged tennis sensation is being managed by Banagalore based Globosport which also manages cricketer Zaheer Khan and film star Saif Ali Khan.

After receiving a wild-card to play in her maiden Tier I WTA event, Sania Mirza said she would take part in the Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami, Florida, as an “injury-free player".

The 19-year-old, who was recuperating from an ankle injury that began to trouble her at the Australian Open, received a wild card to play in the $ 3 million tournament, starting on March 23.

“My injury is okay and the ankle is much better. I will be going to this tournament as an injury-free player,” Sania said.

Sania, who created history by becoming the first Indian to win a WTA Open at Hyderabad, after showing her prowess by reaching the third round of the Australian Open, would leave for USA on March 19 and was confident of putting up a good show in Florida.

The Hyderabad girl said she did not make any special preparation for this tournament and she would be going without much expectation as it was a Tier I event with the world`s best in action.

“I will play my game and try to progress as far as I can,” she said, even as her family members were busy looking after her mother Naseem, who underwent a surgery on Tuesday.

Sania`s father, Imran Mirza, said 75 per cent of the ankle injury had healed and the rest would subside on its own.

“She does not have much worry about the ankle. The stakes are high and we will have to see how far she can go in the Nasdaq Open,” he said.

Imran was expecting Sania to do well since she had earlier won a couple of tournaments in Miami, where the weather “suits her, as it is dry and hot, like Hyderabad.”

The cream of women`s tennis, including Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznestsova and Ananstasia Myskina, are likely to take part in the tournament.

Jessica Kirkland (USA), Sesil Karatantcheva (Bulgaria), Angela Haynes (USA), Viktoriay Kutuzova (Ukraine), Anna Tatishvili (Georgia) and Jamea Jackson (USA) are the other wild card entrants.

India’s ace car driver Narain Karthikeyan Wednesday said that he was “worried” about “very hot and humid conditions” ahead of the Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix to be run over the weekend.

“I am a little bit worried about the very hot conditions here in Malaysia, as it is very humid,” said Karthikeyan, the first Indian to race in the ultimate class of the Formula One circuit.

“Physically, it will be very challenging but I will push hard for it, as I did in Australia (on his F1 debut at Melbourne) and hopefully finish the race again,” said the 28-year-old, who finished 15th at the Australian Grand Prix.

Karthikeyan said he noticed the dirt on the Sepang International Circuit tracks on which the race would be contested March 18-20.

“I have also been around the track and the first things I have noticed are that it is not very clean and it is very wide. However, I think it will suit my style of driving,” said the Chennai-born Karthikeyan.

“I went directly to Malaysia to prepare physically for the tough weather conditions. I have trained a lot outdoors, about four hours a day, especially doing some cardio work.”

Karthikeyan’s Jordan team mate Tiago Monteiro of Portugal had stayed back in Australia, but he nevertheless followed a strict programme, prepared for him by Gerard Gray, Jordan Grand Prix team’s physiotherapist.

“I stayed in Australia between the two races to relax and recover from my cold. Nevertheless, I have also gone through a fitness programme that my trainer had prepared for me,” he said.

Monteiro said the Malaysian track was new to him.

“Malaysia will be another unknown track for me. My goal here is to learn the circuit as fast as I can and obviously try to finish the race,” he said matter-of-factly.

“The track is quite different from Melbourne, there are many high-speed corners and the hot temperature and the humidity will probably make it the toughest race of the year,” he said. “However, I am really looking forward to the challenge.”

Karthikeyan and Monteiro have been training and working for approximately four hours a day.

Jordan physiotherapist Gray agreed with Karthikeyan and Monteiro that Kuala Lumpur would pose a real test for the two.

“They have realised after the Australian race, that they need to prepare even more intensively for Malaysia where the track temperature, the cockpit temperature and the humidity make it the most difficult and physical race of the year,” he explained.

“Every day, the drivers were in the gym working their neck, shoulder, stomach and back muscles. Additionally, they did a lot of cardio work and circuit training,” he said.

“In addition, Narain and Tiago did a lot of stretching and received daily massage therapy. It is essential for a driver to have lean, supple muscles that maintain strength but also keep a low weight, so it makes it easier for the engineers to design a car around them.”

Gray said that it was an intensive programme considering the hard conditions that they would get in the race.

“Nutritionally, they also had to be trained for a much hotter race. They are drinking different energy drinks to replace the salt that they loose through sweat,” he said.

“So the nutritional strategy for the Malaysian Grand Prix will be different to that used in Australia. The better prepared, the better they are going to be,” said Gray.

Sepang International Circuit’s chief race engineer Paul Monaghan said that track tests the drivers to the hilt.

“It is a very demanding one: the hot track temperature creates unique conditions for the drivers, tyres and engine. A good car balance is required for the track’s flowing nature, which then eases the braking requirements,” he said.

“At present, we are facing challenges with two new drivers, tyres and engine regulations, but we are building on the lessons learnt at the Australian GP and seeking to get the most from everything here this weekend.”