India has to do a lot for women in sports: Sania Mirza

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza stated that India still has a lot of catching up to do in order to bring more women into the world of sports. But she agreed on the fact that India has improved a lot and also lauded the efforts of female athletes like Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal, and PV Sindhu who have made the nation proud in the respective categories. Yet, she feels that there is a lot of ‘discrimination in sports’ prevailing in India at the present moment. Sania shared her views while she was attending a panel discussion named ‘Women Shaping the Future’ organised as a part of the 35th annual session of the FICCI Ladies Organisations.

"Today, we can name at least 10 superstar sportswomen like Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Mary Kom, Dipa Karmakar, Sakshi Malik. We could not do this 10 years ago. So, we have come a long way (in women empowerment in sports) but still, a lot needs to be done for women in sports," said the tennis star. The discrimination in prize money between men and women has been a normal phenomenon. Sania Mirza stressed on this matter and urged that equality should be maintained. Regarding the matter, she said, "I have been saying for long that women should be paid equal prize money with men. This discrimination is in all sports worldwide. My question is why we even need to explain that women should have equal prize money with men. I want to reach that day when we don't need to explain this." The first Indian woman tennis player to win a Grand Slam title in doubles and mixed doubles, Sania, feels that is still a man’s world. She said, “As much as we talk about empowerment and equality (with men). I feel we still live in a man’s world to a large extent.