Sania Mirza bids farewell to tennis after first round defeat at Dubai Duty Free Championships
Darpan News Desk IANS, 21 Feb, 2023 01:17 PM
Dubai, Feb 21 (IANS) Indian tennis star Sania Mirza on Tuesday ended her magnificent 20-year-long career with a defeat in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, here.
The 36-year-old India legend lost in straight sets along with American partner Madison Keys in women's doubles tie. The pair went 4-6 0-6 down to Russian pair of Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova in one hour long battle.
A mother to 4-year-old boy Izhaan, Mirza, who had turned pro back in 2003, ended her glorious career with six Grand Slam trophies.
Three of those came in women's doubles with Swiss great Martina Hingis. The other three were in mixed doubles, two of which were with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi - 2009 Australian Open and 2012 French Open - while the other one was a US Open trophy with Bruno Soares.
Earlier last month, Sania was denied a fairytale ending to her Grand Slam career after she lost in the Australian Open mixed doubles final with Rohan Bopanna.
This is India's biggest win in women's hockey as the team is playing in the Olympics only for the third time and had struggled to the knockout rounds, finishing fourth in Pool A.
Sindhu achieved that coveted glory -- that too in successive Olympic Games, like Sushil -- when she dismissed her Chinese opponent He Bingjiao 21-13, 21-15 in the bronze medal match.
It was Super Sunday for India as the team coached by Australia's Graham Reid rode on a scintillating performance by goalkeeper PR Sreejesh to outwit Great Britain in the fourth and final quarterfinal, setting up a last-four clash with reigning World Cup winners Belgium. Australia take on Germany in the other semifinal.
Forward Navneet Kaur scored a beautiful goal in the 57th minute off a superb pass from the right flank by skipper Rani Rampal to seal the victory for India.
The women's hockey team kept alive its hopes of making it to the quarterfinals by beating the higher-ranked Ireland 1-0, only their third win ever in India's third appearance at the Olympics.
