Padam Shree

Sania Mirza was conferred with the prestigious Padma Sri award for her contribution to tennis on the eve of the Republic Day on Wednesday.
The 19-year-old was one of the six sportspersons who got Padma awards today.
The others were Bahadur Singh (shot putter), Madhumita Bisht (badminton player), MC Mary Kom (boxer), Mohan Singh Gunjyal (adventure sports).

Sania's loss: Not much to worry

Sania Mirza crashed out of the Australian Open in the second round after she lost to Michaela Krajicek 3-6, 7-5. Sania, ranked 32, and seeded in the tournament lost to 43 ranked Michaela but why forget that the winner is the sister of no other than Richard Krajicek, a wonderful player just a couple of years back.
The good thing is that Sania is playing all around and getting exposure. Her first round win against world junion champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus suggested that Sania is overcoming the problem of unforced errors and poor first-serve.

Tribal girls love Sania Mirza

The popularity of Sania Mirza seems to transcend across all sections of the society. Even girls in tribal-dominated Betul district of Madhya Pradesh are besotted with the teen sensation.
Imagine the posters of Sania put up in shops in weekly 'haat' markets in rural areas where most of the populace has never even heard the word tennis.
The tribal girl, Jaivanti in one such market said that now girls are wearing the small sized 'nath' though the tribal girls wore the big nose rings in the past. Shop owners say that the poster of Sania Mirza helps them in selling the nose rings. Either it is Ali Rajpur or Badwani, the popularity of Sania Mirza is growing everywhere.

Sania Mirza: Great beginning in 2006, with Clijsters beat Williams sisters

In a major upset and great start to the year, Sania Mirza paired with Kim Clijsters to beat the Williams sisters in the doubles exhibition match in Hong Kong today.
No matter that it was an exhibition match the win will surely do a lot to boost the confidence of the Hyderabadi lass who has emerged as one of the sporting icons in this country bereft of heroes outside cricket. Sania has also been voted the personality of the outgoing year by many agencies and media organisations.

Vijay Amritraj on Sania

Vijay Amritraj has said that no body would have believed a decade ago that India could have a tennis player like Sania in future who would be amongst the top 30 women's players in the world.
No one knows it better how tought it is to stay at the top in competitive tennis than Amritraj. Once Bud Collins had hailed Amritraj, Borg and Connors as the A, B, C of Tennis. He may not have played to his potential but Vijay carried Indian hopes in Davis Cup afloat for over a decade.
Twice he took India to the finals. His spirited game in Davis Cup speaks volumes about his commitment when playing for the nation. On several occasions he beat Borg, Connors, Nastase and the likes of other top players. And he was a crowd's favourite.
Amritraj feels that the sports scene is very bright in India with Vishwanathan Anand, Sania, Arjun Atwal, Narayan Karthikeyan and many other players in other spots.