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MEDAL WINNERS FROM INDIA

YB WEB DESK. Dated: 1/12/2021 1:23:50 PM

Sania Mirza

Sania Mirza is an Indian professional tennis player. A former doubles world No. 1, she has won six Grand Slam titles in her career. From 2003 until her retirement from singles in 2013, she was ranked by the Women's Tennis Association as India's No. 1 player. Throughout her career, Mirza has established herself as by far the most successful Indian female tennis player ever and one of the highest-paid and most high-profile athletes in the country. In her singles career, Mirza had notable wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva, and Marion Bartoli, as well as former world No. 1s Martina Hingis, Dinara Safina, and Victoria Azarenka. She is the highest-ranked female player ever from India, peaking at world No. 27 in mid-2007. However, a major wrist injury forced her to give up her singles career and focus on the doubles circuit. She has achieved a number of firsts for women's tennis in her native country, including surpassing $1 million in career earnings (in the end over $6.9 million), winning a singles WTA title, and winning a Grand Slam title (eventually, three each in women's doubles and in mixed doubles), as well as qualifying for (and eventually winning) the WTA Finals in 2014 alongside Cara Black, defending the title the following year partnering with Martina Hingis. So far, Mirza is the only Indian female player to win a WTA title of any kind, and the only to reach the top 100 singles rankings. She is the third Indian woman in the Open Era to feature and win a round at a Grand Slam tournament, and the first to advance past the second round. With 42 crowns, Mirza has won more WTA doubles titles on the tour than any other active player. In addition, she has spent 91 weeks as the world No. 1 in doubles. In 2005, Mirza was crowned the WTA Newcomer of the year, and in 2015 she and Martina Hingis were the doubles team of the year, and later had a 44-match winning streak, one of the longest in history. She has also won a total of 14 medals (including 6 gold) at three major multisport events, namely the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games and the Afro- Asian Games. Mirza was named one of the "50 Heroes of Asia" by Time in October 2005. In March 2010, The Economic Times named Mirza in the list of the "33 women who made India proud". She was appointed as the UN Women's Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia during the event held to mark the International Day To End Violence Against Women on 25 November 2013. She was named in Time magazine's 2016 list of the 100 most influential people in the world.