Road to Rio: Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare could cause an upset or two at Olympics 2016

Name: Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare

Age: 29 and 22

Discipline: Tennis

Category: Women’s Doubles

Qualification: Sania is ranked number one in the world in women’s doubles and gained a direct entry at the 2016 Olympics. She chose Prarthana as her partner, as the two have previously won bronze at the 2014 Asian Games.

Strengths: Sania is one half of the highest ranked pair in women’s doubles and Prarthna is an Olympic novice. But the duo’s biggest advantage is the experience of having played and won together representing India before. Add to that the fact that Prarthana is coached by Sania’s father and is part of the Sania Mirza Tennis Academy, making them well suited to each other’s style of play.

Past Olympic performance: Sania has represented India at two Olympics before Rio – 2008 Beijing and 2012 London. In 2008, she retired from her singles match in the first round because of a right wrist injury. In the doubles, she and her partner Sunitha Rao got a walkover in the first round but lost in the second round. In 2012, she lost in the first round of women’s doubles with Rushmi Chakravarthy and bowed out in quarterfinals of mixed doubles with Leander Paes.

This will be Prarthana’s Olympic debut

Past record: Sania has won 37 career doubles titles including six Grand Slam (three each in women’s doubles and in mixed doubles.) She has also won a total of 14 medals, including six gold, at multi-sport events such as the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games and the Afro-Asian Games. - Prarthana has won three singles and 18 doubles titles on the ITF tour. - Together, they have won the bronze medal at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.

Rio Prospects: The duo is not a strong medal contender for India, owing to the tough competition and comparative inexperience of playing together. However, if Sania and Prarthana manage to channelise their past experience and fighting spirit, they have the potential to advance at the Olympics.

One half of this pair is the world number one and the other is ranked at 198. However, both have played and won together before – which raises hopes of a strong showing by India’s women’s doubles pair.

However they will have a very tough and competitive field to navigate as some of the world’s best tennis players will team up for doubles. Serena and Venus Williams, who have just won the Wimbledon and Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic, the French Open winners, will be among the favourites, but Sania and Prarthna will be hoping to create an upset or two on their way.  

Prarthana, who hails from Barshi, a small village in Maharashtra, shares a good equation with the Mirzas, and even trains at the Sania Mirza Tennis Academy. She moved to Hyderabad after her strong performances to train at the tennis star’s academy. “Sania’s father is my coach, I train at her academy, she makes me so comfortable and relaxed on the court that pressure is not even close to me,” she was quoted as saying by PTI.    

All of 22, Prarthana comes across as a very confident player and with the experience of Sania by her side, she has the potential to be a good foil to the world number one.

“As a player it (the pressure) comes with it. Sania supports me a lot when she plays with me and already we have played many tournaments together and share a fine tuning,” she had said.

Sania, on the other hand, is glad of the younger girl’s confidence. “It’s amazing if that’s how she feels and that she is going to play at the big stage and she is not frightened at all, that’s going to be amazing,” she said in response.

Sania’s medal chances in women’s doubles may not be as high as in mixed doubles with Rohan Bopanna, but if they manage to put their best foot forward, combining their experience and talent, they can make advances in the draw and hopefully cause an upset.

With inputs from agencies