Last year the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit surprised tennis star Sania Mirza with a belated birthday cake. The celebrity session began with Sania and her mother, Naseema – with whom she shares her birthday – cutting a cake to resounding applause from the audience.
And this year too, there was another birthday cake waiting for her, in advance! The occasion was Deutsche Bank announcing a special edition of Sania Mirza credit card. The bank has also announced Sunil Gavaskar credit card aimed at fans of the two sports stars as well as cricket and tennis enthusiasts.
The youth icon bedazzled everyone when she turned up in a burnt orange and pink coloured sari teamed up with studded jewellery.
The launch function, held at capital’s Mayfair Garden, featured a special performance by actress Isha Shravani and the Daksha Sheth dance troupe. Later, a birthday cake was brought on the stage for the teenage sensation (she turned 20 on Wednesday). This time also, Sania preferred to celebrate it with her mother, standing by her side.
During the chat & game show with comedian Jaaved Jaffery, the country’s sole WTA title winner said she was trying very hard to catch up with the international tournaments.
Born in Mumbai in 1986, Sania was ranked 435 in WTA singles ranking in June 2004. She started 2005 at 169 and jumped to 42 before the 2005 US Open. Thanks to her performance in the US, Sania reached a ranking of 31, the highest-ranked female tennis player ever from India.
However, 2006 proved to be an ordinary year for Sania, who was plagued with a string of injuries and inconsistent form. Beginning the year with a career-best rank of 31, she could not add any more feathers to her hat leaving aside a couple of surprises that included a victory against former world number one Martina Hingis in the Korean
Open. Sania finished the year at 66th.
Though down, Sania is not yet out. Just a day before her birthday, even prime minister Manmohan Singh, while celebrating Children’s Day with the country’s future, cited her name alongside cricketing maestro Sachin Tendulkar as perfect role models whose footsteps they should follow.
‘Sania Mirza, who was a little girl like you, dreamed of becoming one of the world’s best tennis players. With hard work, she achieved that. We feel great pride in Sachin Tendulkar also.
And I hope that from among you, many more Sania Mirzas and Sachin Tendulkars will emerge,’ the PM said after giving awards to 29 child achievers from all over the country.
No doubt, the tennis sensation from Hyderabad remains the heart-throb of thousands of young Indians.