Sania inspires students, hands over Sunfeast tickets

Kolkata: Teenage tennis sensation Sania Mirza,18, on Monday had words of inspiration for the children and handed over free tickets to ten lucky winners of the Sunfeast Trophy design contest, during a whirlwind visit to two schools in the southern part of the city.

Hailing from Hyderabad, Sania is the centre of attraction in the ongoing $170,000 WTA Sunfeast Open. Taking time out of her busy schedule to mingle with the girls of Shiksha Sadan and Carmel Convent school, she urged them to strive for excellence in whatever they undertook in life.

Sania, who would start her campaign in the tournament on Tuesday, also gave free tickets to five lucky winners of the contest in each school. Students from about 100 schools in the city had taken part in the Sunfeast Trophy designing contest before the final design was selected from the entries by an expert panel. The girls, wide-eyed and excited to have the sports icon in their midst, listened to Sania in rapt attention before enthralling her with a brief cultural presentation.

"It is the greatest day of my life. So far, I had only seen her on television. But today, I talked to her and saw her in person," said a student of Shiksha Sadan. Sania had a brief stay at the schools for about 10 minutes before being whisked away under a thick cover of security.