Sania Mirza's Biography

Profile
Birth Date: 15 Nov 1986 Birth Place: Mumbai, India Residence: Hyderabad, India Nationality: INDIA Height: 5'7 1/2" (1.53m) Weight: 130 lbs. (59kg) Plays: Right Handed (Double Handed Backhand) Favorite Surface: Hard Coach: C.G.K. Bhupathi Age Began Tennis: 6 Personal Interests: Swimming, Music Other Information: Ambition in tennis: To be in the Top 20 of the World. Favourite player: Steffi Graf

Personal Sania Mirza (born November 15, 1986, Mumbai, India resides in Hyderabad, India) is a professional female tennis player from India. Coached by her father, Imran Mirza, Sania began playing tennis at age six. She turned professional in 2003. She became the first and only Indian woman to reach the 4th round of a Grand Slam tournament at the 2005 US Open. She is now the highest ranked female tennis player ever from India (She had a rank of 42, her highest ever, by end of August 2005). Her original goal was to enter the top 100 by the end of 2005, but she revised it to ente ring the top 50 after good performances at the beginning of the year. As of July 2005, she ranked 5th among Asian women. Her year-end rank in 2004 was 206. "My mother took me to a coach, who initially refused to coach me because I was too small," said Mirza. "After a month, he called my parents to say he'd never seen a player that good at such a young age." [From WTATour interview] She is 5 ft. 7 in. tall.

She has earned a large fan following in India as she is one of the very few young women from the country to have done well at the highest levels of sport. In 2005, she was awarded the Arjuna award in tennis for the year 2004. She has defeated two top 10 players, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova. She is a devout Muslim, who began playing tennis at t he age of six.

Sania won the Wimbledon Championships Girls' Doubles title in 2003, teaming up with Alisa Kleybanova of Russia. She got a wild card entry to the 2005 Australian Open and created history by becoming the first Indian woman to enter the third round of a Grand Slam tournament. She lost in the 3rd round to eventual champion Serena Williams. On February 12, 20 05, she became the first Indian woman to win a WTA singles title defeating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine in the Hyderabad Open Finals.

In her Wimbledon Championships debut, Mirza won her first match at the 2005 event, defeating Akiko Morigami of Japan in t hree very tight sets, 6-3, 3-6, 8-6. However, she was narrowly defeated in the second round by Svetlana Kuznetsova (a player whom she had defeated earlier in the year for her first top ten victory) 4-6, 7-6, 4-6.

Watching her performance in Acura Classics , legendary Pancho Segura, Ecuador-born American player who roamed the courts in the 1940s and 50s, felt that Sania's hard-hitting game resembles that of Romanian tennis legend Nastase. Segura said that Sania has a natural way of hitting the ball and she hits it hard. These qualities remind him of Ilie Nastase.

Career Highlights - 2005 US Open: reaches 4th round by defeating Marion Bartoli of France in straight sets (7-6(4), 6-4); Voted Best Player of the day on the 3rd day for winning her 2nd round match despite bleeding toes. - 2005 Forest Hills Women's Tennis Classic, New York: reaches her second WTA final but fails to win - 2005 Acura Classic: upsets Nadia Petrova in 2nd round but loses in the third round to Akiko Morigami of Japan (2-6,6-4,4-6). By beating the 8thranked Petrova, she breaks into top 50 in world rankings for the first time ever. - 2005 Dubai Tennis Championships: 2nd Round: Upset reigning US Open Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals - 2005 Hyderabad Open singles: Won the tournament defeating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in the final and became the first Indian woman to capture a WTA singles title. - 2005 Australian Open singles: 3rd round: Became first Indian woman to reach the 3rd round of a Grand Slam tournament. - 2004 Hyderabad Open doubles: Won the tournament (partnering with Liezel Huber) to become the youngest Indian to wi n a WTA or ATP tour title and the first Indian woman to capture a WTA tour title. - 2003 Junior Wimbledon Championships doubles: Won the tournament (partnering with Alisa Kleybanova) to become the youngest Indian and the first Indian woman to win a junior Grand Slam title.

Sania Mirza Biography

Indian tennis player Sania Mirza born to sports journalist father Imran Mirza and mother Naseema who works in printing business on 15 November, 1986 in Mumbai. Although born in the business capital of India in Mumbai, Sania grown up in Hyderabad in a religious Muslim family. She has younger sister named Anam. Sania has done schooling from Nasr School, Hyderabad and graduation from St. Mary's College. Her father and other family members coached her to play tennis. At the early age of six, Sania began playing tennis. However she made her debut to professional circuit at the age of 16 in 2003. She was forced to play tennis in her childhood by her mother. Sania was used to go for swimming, passing tennis courts every day. One day her mother asked her why don't you play tennis in summer vacation because she had nothing to do except swimming for an hour or whatever? That's what impulse Sania to hold racket in her hand. Another turn in Sania Mirza's life to take tennis seriously is when her coach called her parents to say he'd never seen a player that good at such a young age. No wonder her powerful game made her favorite sports person in India. In 2003, Sania made debut of career with India Fed Cup team, where she won all three singles matches. The same year she also won the Wimbledon Championships Girls' Doubles title partnering with Russian player Alisa Kleybanova. At the Asian Tennis Championship in 2004, she turned out as a runner up. Year 2005 build recognition to the tennis player when she became the first Indian woman to reach the 4th round of a Grand Slam event US Open over passing Mashona Washington, Maria Elena Camerin and Marion Bartoli in the earlier rounds. Also made a 3rd round appearance to another Grand Slam event Australian Open, where she loses to the former champion Serena Williams. Sania won the first WTA title of her career- Hyderabad Open Finals on February 12, 2005 beating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine in the finals. Till 2006 September, Sania made three top 10 players Martina Hingis, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Nadia Petrova to lose to her. Later when representing India at the Asian Games, Doha, 2006, Sania clinched a

gold medal in mixed doubles teaming with Leander Paes, silver in both women's singles and Indian women's team. Meanwhile she was also awarded by the Indian government with Arjuna Award in 2004 and Padma Shri in 2006. Arjuna Award is given to sport person for his/her outstanding performance in the sport, while Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian honor of India given to people for their distinguished contribution to various fields like arts, literature, sports etc. Being hard courts as her favorite surface, Sania displayed good results in 2007 hard-court season. She stands out 8th in US Open 2007 Series. Made final round appearance in singles at Bank of the West Classic, while won in the doubles event along with Shahar Peer. Also made a quarterfinal appearance to Tier 1 Acura Classic tournament. One more time reached 3rd round of US Open 2007. However shown better results in doubles, reaching quarterfinals of mixed and women's doubles. In 2008, Sania participated in Beijing Olympics to represent India. In singles event she retired from a round of 64, however crashed out from doubles event from round of 16. On 2008-12-11, the ace Indian tennis player was honored with Doctor of Letters from MGR Educational and Research Institute University, Chennai. It's the same institute where Sania's niece Sonia Baig studies. In 2009, Mirza won first Grand Slam tile along with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi at Australian Open mixed doubles event. With this she became the first and only Indian woman to win a grand slam title. The highest career ranking of Sania Mirza till date is- 27 in singles and 18 in doubles. For the latest updates on Sania Mirza's achievements and tournament results, go to: Sania Mirza Awards & Achievements | Sania Mirza Tournament Results

Biography Saina Nehwal

Biography Indian Sportsperson- Saina Nehwal Born : 17th of March 1990 Saina Nehwal is regarded as the prolific Indian Badminton player and she is arguably the best female Indian Badminton player currently in India. She has achieved some remarkable feats in past one year nd like achieving the 2 ranking in the world, winning three International tournaments back to back and upsetting top seeded players in World Badminton. Her biggest achievement is that she became the first Indian woman to reach the Quart Final round at the Olympic Games. She was awarded Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award this year for her magnificent performance in International tournaments. Saina Nehwal belongs to the Hisar in Haryana and she got her badminton genes from both of her parents including Dr. Harvir Singh and mother Usha Rani. Her parents were former State Badminton Champions. Dr. Harvir Singh encouraged her daughter to took up game of badminton. Saina started playing badminton at a tender age of 8 under the careful eyes of her coach Nani Prasad. She adopted a tough training schedule from the beginning. She was trained further under S.M. Arif who is a Dronacharya Award winning Badminton Coach. The Pullela Gopichands Academy of Badminton became the training ground of Saina Nehwal where she had developed her game and polished her skills. She won the National Junior Championship in the year 2004, and defended it again in 2005. She won the National Senior Championship in 2006 and successfully repeated it in 2007 again. In addition to this, she has also won the All India Jr. Ranking Tournaments held at Chennai in 2005 and All India Senior Ranking Tournament at Mumbai. She was also the clear winner at the National Games that took place at Guwahati. Saina has shown her mettle at the international badminton scene by defeating many top seeded players. She won the Super Series tournament, by clinching the Indonesian open in 2009 with victory over higher-ranked Chinese Wang Lin. She continued her winning streak by winning second Super Series title of her career and won Singapore Open title on June 20, 2010. She completed her hat trick of title by winning Indonesian Open on June 27, 2010.