SM to marry SM after breaking up with SM
This news was the talk of the town yesterday... no, actually the talk of a country or two... Sania Mirza after her recent breakup with her beau Sohaib Mirza is going to marry Shoaib Malik...
The news hungry media feasted on the news... There were comments like "SM broke with SM because she wanted to marry SM"... Or, "Will she will play for India or Pakistan here after" and the second one came with a stinging reply -- "With the way she is playing nowadays, who cares?"... and the last one "Out of 600 million Indian men, she had to find a Pakistani to marry?", the last one coming from none other than yours truly...
But, really, who are we to talk about these 3 SMs... The main SM here is a tennis player, who has given a few (agreed, not a lot, but definitely a few) happy moments on the tennis courts. She has won accolades for her feisty nature and gutsy game. She stood her own against some higher ranked opponents and made us proud... In an otherwise barren desert also known as Indian Womens Tennis, she gave us an oasis...
Can you name any other Indian woman tennis player? Forget about someone who has earned her name on the ATP circuit, can you name ANY Indian woman tennis player? The only other players I know are the Oberoi sisters and Sunita Rao -- all these girls are representing India in spite of growing up in the US only because they are not good enough to represent the US and there is a very evident paucity of resources here.
She has been clean so far -- no controversies at all, sports or otherwise -- in her entire career. She has had a lengthy battle with injuries but injuries are a part and parcel of professional sport today, especially in an high intensity sport like international tennis... And please note, these are injuries, not fitness issues. She is not someone like those young cricketers who lose his fitness due to lack of focus and unhealthy social agendas...
Ask any athlete today if they would work doubly hard to get over injuries and they will say that they are ready to work three times harder to have a injury free career... Sadly, the mind is willing, but the body is not...
She has had no affairs, no party life, no performance enhancing drugs, no drunken binges... She has done her bit to encourage hundreds of young girls to think of tennis as an option in life... She has been a role model for so many in this country, deprived of heroes...
This is what both the SMs, that matter, have said today --
Sania told TOI: “This is the biggest day of my life. I have been in the media glare for too long, and would appreciate a little privacy at this very personal moment in my life.’’
Shoaib has pledged his support: “I fully understand what it takes to be an international sportsperson. I’ll support Sania in her career as long as she wishes to play. Representing India at the 2012 Olympics is very important to her, and I will be the proudest husband if she can win a medal for her country,’’ he told TOI.
They have displayed dignity and sense... But have we? Instead, we have failed her... and have failed her rather miserably...
We do not know how to treat a sportsperson... Michael Phelps who has had the BEST EVER OLYMPICS performance is no one today in the US... The football quarterbacks and ace baseball hitters get their space in off seasons or during their injury time offs... They get their space from the public glare to go about their business and work on their game and achieve better heights in their careers...
But not in India... Anyone who is anyone, is hounded by this crazy media... And we cross the boundaries without thinking twice...
Soon, we will have to train young sportspersons how to evade the evil eye of the media before we teach them how to return the service of a Rafael Nadal or how to evade a punch of a Cuban boxer...
We need to let all the 3 SMs her live their life... Let us not encroach their personal space... Lets maintain the sacred bubble...
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