I am ready to play with anyone: Sania

Photo: PTI

ROLE MODEL: Sania Mirza feels people like her have a role to motivate kids. She played with a few kids at an event to promote the Sunfeast Open.

MUMBAI: Sania Mirza has put personal choices aside about mixed doubles partners for Doha Asian Games. "I am ready to play with Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Prakash Amritraj or anyone else. It is not my choice. It is the committee which thought that we (Sania-Leander mixed doubles pairing) could do better."

She was facing a volley of questions at Inorbit Mall, Mumbai, as part of a promotion for the Sunfeast Open, to be organised by Globosport in Kolkata.

The hard-hitting Indian was referring to news reports about Leander agreeing to partner her at 2006 Doha Games, leading to Mahesh Bhupathi expressing surprise after being under the impression that Sania would team up with him. Finally, the AITA stepped in and opted to continue with the Busan Asian Games 2002 combination for Doha — Leander Paes and Sania Mirza. Sania said: "I had a phenomenal first year. It is humanely impossible to repeat it year after year. Critics are always there, I am an optimistic person so looking forward to doing better."

"You get figured out after a certain while," Sania said about her game. "It happens to everybody. Even when I am watching opponents' matches, I try to figure out ways to tackle them. It is not a major problem, only a minor one," explained Sania.

She accepts that sportspersons like her have a role to motivate kids through various events. "It is important to have clinics like these where you can meet kids, hit with them. It keeps them motivated. Leander and Mahesh used to be my idols. I still look up to them and remember, as a 12-year-old, getting Mahesh's autograph on a tennis ball when he had visited our academy." Now it is her turn to inspire, hitting with kids on an improvised tennis court set up in the mall lobby, watched by distracted shoppers, the sport freaks among them appearing courtside for a closer look.