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'WPL has been biggest revelation for women's cricket', says Sania Mirza
The former tennis great feels as a nation India has to encourage more and more girls to follow their dreams
Royal Challengers Bangalore's captain Smriti Mandhana plays a shot during the Women's Premier League. - AFP
The six-time Grand Slam champion Sania Mirza, who is a Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) women's team mentor, said the Women's Premier League (WPL) has been the biggest revelation for the women's cricket that has happened.
WPL is contributing to the increase in interest in women's cricket across India. On March 17, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) lifted their maiden Women's Premier League crown after Smriti Mandhana-led side outplayed Delhi Capitals (DC) by 8 wickets at Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi.
On women empowerment in India and opportunities for females in sports Sania told ANI," We as a, as a nation, as a society, we have to encourage more and more girls to follow their dreams. We have to encourage more and more girls to do what they love, no matter how out of the box it is. And I think that slowly that is happening, but there is always room for improvement.
"WPL has been the biggest revelation for the women's cricket that has happened. Because women's cricket has always been played. It's not like they haven't played.
"They just haven't gotten the recognition that the male cricketers used to get. And now with this platform, with the WPL, I think it's become really, really cool for them to be able to showcase their talent and also show how good they really are at what they do. The more eyeballs, the more TV, the bigger the sport gets," Sania said.
On women empowerment in India and opportunities for females in sports Sania said, "We as a, as a nation, as a society, we have to encourage more and more girls to follow their dreams.
"We have to encourage more and more girls to do what they love, no matter how out of the box it is. And I think that slowly that is happening, but there is always room for improvement."
On the challenges of being a mother and sports personality, she said it's not easy and challenging as well, but the tennis ace said it's the greatest honour.
"It's not easy, it's challenging, I think being a mother has been one of the greatest honours and pleasures of my life. So for me, my work and everything, I just was trying to find that balance and it is challenging at times. And that's where your family comes into play, your support system comes into play, who help you," Sania said.
Sania bid an emotional adieu to the sport in her hometown of Hyderabad last year at the venue where it all started for her as a 16-year-old. Sania played her two exhibition tennis matches at the Bahadur Stadium, where she made her WTA event debut back in 2003.
She retired from professional tennis after the Dubai Tennis Championships last year.
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