Sania Mirza changes her mind, will participate in Asian Games

It may not have anything to do with prime minister Narendra Modi, but after meeting him, Sania Mirza announced that she will participate in the upcoming Asian Games from which she had pulled out earlier.

The tennis star's meeting with the PM was described as a courtesy call after she won the US Open mixed doubles title recently. She had partnered Zimbabwean Cara Black.

Sania's announcement came as a relief for the All India Tennis Association, which was under fire after top three tennis players — Leander Paes, Sania and Rohan Bopanna — said they will skip Asian Games as their priority was to gain ranking points.

"I was feeling weird. I was not feeling happy with my decision. I know I am sacrificing 900 points, but sometimes you have to take a decision for the sake of playing for your country," Sania said after meeting with the PM. She was slated to leave for Tokyo later in the day.

This also came on a day dna reported that the sports ministry is upset over this issue and has almost decided to delete names of both Sania's mother Nasima Mirza and Leander Paes's father Dr Vece Paes from the list of officials accompanying the squad to Incheon, South Korea.

Nasima said, "She (Sania) was not feeling good about it. So, she thought hard about it and finally decided that she prefers playing for country."

The decision means that the 27-year-old tennis player has put on line 900 ranking points by missing the Wuhan WTA event. Sania, though, will have chance to earn 475 rating points in Tokyo before the Asiad.

After the Games, Sania will compete in China Open, starting September 29.

This also means that her mother will accompany the tennis squad as a manager. "Yes, I will certainly be travelling with the team," said Nasima.

Sania and Cara Black are fourth in the race to Singapore, the year-end championship but the Indian hoped that she will be able to earn enough points in Tokyo and Beijing to remain in top eight.

The real story, however, was that ever since news came out in the open about top Indian tennis players' skipping Asiad, there were sharp reactions from the sports ministry as well as Sports Authority of India.

"No, there was no pressure from any front," said Nasima. The president of AITA, Anil Khanna, too, denied reports that tennis team's participation was in jeopardy in the wake of mass pull out of top players.

"I can only say that government or SAI did not put any pressure on us. But if Sania has decided to play, that's a good news," said Khanna.