I deserve a wild ca for Olympics
Her participation in the Olympics may have been jeopardised by a
shock first-round exit from the French Open but top Indian tennis player
Sania Mirza on Thursday asserted that she has done enough to "deserve" a
wild card into the London event.
Sania has had a successful season so far, forcing her way into four
WTA finals and winning two titles. She, along with Russian Elena Vesnina,
was also one the most successful pairs in the year 2011.
However, the shock first-round exit from the French Open, where she
needed to defend 1400 points, meant that Sania may not find herself in
the top-10 of the WTA doubles rankings by the June 11 cut-off mark.
Only a top-10 player gets a direct entry into the women's doubles
draw with the privilege to choose her partner.
Sania, currently ranked 10th, is a strong medal contender for India
in the mixed doubles event but to make the mixed doubles draw, she has
to be in either singles or doubles main draw.
"I am an optimist and I think I've done well enough to deserve a wild
card. As far as I know the wild cards go to the most deserving players
from countries that are not represented in the event," Sania told PTI
from Paris.
The ITF will issue its Olympic Qualification list on June 28 and it
is perhaps the last chance for Sania to try and win an Olympic medal.
Asked the way forward, if ITF ignores her application, she said," As
I said, I am an optimist and I think I have a great chance for a wild
card at the Olympics."
In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Sania had made a first round exit in
the singles and could not go beyond the second round in women's doubles
along with Sunitha Rao. PTI |