‘Sania Mirza’s success a result of her father’s hardwork’

The passion to fulfill his dream of making Sania an international champion compelled Imran to become a student of the game

By Vijay Mohan Raj

Hyderabad: We are a nation of 1.4 billion population apart from being socially diverse in caste, language and religion.

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On Women’s Day, there were various functions and celebrations that took place across the country to highlight the role of women and felicitate some women who have been achievers in their field of activity.

The other day, I was privileged to be invited to a dinner attended by elite performers in society apart from policy makers which was organised to mark the retirement of tennis star Sania Mirza.

My assessment after watching the presentation compiled highlighting some of her achievements which has happened in spite of the system than because of it. Another case of an achiever who has reached the pinnacle against all odds.

The fact is that Sania has faced the wrath of some conservative elements of the community that she belongs to for trivial issues that would have derailed the progress and enthusiasm of most achievers.

I would complement the parents and other members of the family for insulating her from all the futile social pressures that Sania was being subjected to.

There has been a lot written about Sania but very little about her coach, mentor and father Imran Mirza whose role is spectacular in the context that he was the coach of the number one player in the world and provided all the technical inputs to his ward by focusing singularly on her game.

The SWOT analysis that we commonly hear as a jargon in several management theories as principles has been the forte of the research that Imran had been conducting to work on the game of Sania.

The passion to fulfill his dream of making Sania an international champion compelled Imran to become a student of the game.

In order to learn the nuances of the game he made it a point to learn from some of the prominent coaches and players on strategy and sports psychology which knowledge he directed to make Sania a better and improved player every time.

We have been reading about the leading tennis players of the world over the decades and they have all had illustrious coaches who play a huge role in the performance of the professional players Imran Mirza did not belong to their category however as a coach and has nurtured, trained Sania Mirza from junior to the level of reaching the number one spot in the world.

The tragedy is that in our own country there is very little mentioned about his international tennis expertise and we had to wait for Sania to become a number one ranked player globally to realise the contribution of her coach in her achievement.

I suspect that his expertise of the game is taken for granted as he also happens to be the father, manager and mentor of Sania besides being the official coach.

In an interactive session with Imran, it came to light that the establishment of the Sania Mirza Tennis Academy in Hyderabad is a step in the direction of producing more tennis players of international standard thereby utilising his experience and expertise in producing several more champions.

There have been several deserving players, coaches, administrators of various sports that India participates at international level who have been honoured with Padma Awards, Dronacharya Award, and celebrated extensively for their achievements and contribution to enhance the image of the country and consequently inspire the others in society.

In my view there is at present no one more deserving than Imran Mirza for his contribution to sport and consequently the image of India at international level for producing a performer and world champion.

–Former Mumbai and Hyderabad Ranji Trophy Player