INDIAN TENNIS star Sania Mirza has said that she will not play at the Bangalore Open in March 2008. Sania’s decision to skip the event comes in the wake of a petition filed in a local court alleging that she had shown disrespect to the national flag during the Hopman Cup mixed doubles event in Australia. The petition was filed based on a photograph that showed her watching a match with her feet right in front of the National Flag of India.

 

This is the latest in the string of controversies that have followed Sania’s rise to tennis stardom. She was earlier hounded by religious fundamentalists who issued fatwas against her on-court attire. Again, she was criticised by the same bunch for airing her opinion on pre-marital sex. Sania reportedly received hate mails following the incident. Recently, she was taken to task for doing an advertisement shoot near a mosque in Hyderabad, her home city. The latest controversy, where she has been taken to court for allegedly showing disrespect to the national flag, is the final straw.

 

While Sania has every right to feel miffed at the latest allegation, one does feel that she should not have given much importance to the petition and chosen to skip the Bangalore event. Not long ago, Sachin Tendulkar, the darling of the cricket-crazy nation, found himself embroiled in a controversy following the cutting of a ‘tricolour cake’ during the World Cup against West Indies in Jamaica in 2007. Narayana Murthy, another icon of the nation was hauled over the coals for allegedly insulting the national anthem at a function at Infosys the same year. These cases should have made it clear to Sania that she is not being singled out for unfair treatment. While such controversies are, no doubt, a nuisance, it is perhaps the price that celebrities have to pay in this land of ironies where people obsessed with national symbols cannot see the wood for the trees.

 

However, a sportsperson should not allow criticisms and allegations by attention-seekers to get to her/him. Sania should realise that once she allows criticism to affect her choices and performance, she will end up sending a wrong signal to her disparagers that she could easily be cowed down and dictated to.

 

Sania has withstood the onslaught of religious fundamentalist lobby earlier with her family’s and fans’ support. The recent national flag controversy will also fade. However, Sania should learn to take the rough with the smooth and go about her task of playing tennis as a true pro, unmindful of the detractors and distractions.

 

It is clear to every discerning observer that Sania never intentionally did anything that could be construed as disrespect to the national flag. All right-thinking people of this nation are proud of Sania’s achievements as a professional tennis player and consider her a role model for millions of girls in India. And it is incumbent upon us, as a nation, to give Sania all the encouragement and support that she richly deserves.