Whitewash or yet another oversight? BBC 'forgets' Sania Mirza... again

Did you know that Sania Mirza is the World No 1? Yes, the Indian tennis star is the highest ranked women’s doubles player in the world. This was even before back-to-back Grand Slam triumph at the Wimbledon and US Open this year with Swiss partner Martina Hingis. [caption id=“attachment_2423748” align=“alignleft” width=“375”]  Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis in action at US Open. AP[/caption] Yet, when Sania and Hingis won the US Open women’s doubles a few days, two of BBC’s Twitter accounts BBC chose to ignore both her and the fact that any doubles game requires two people. Tweets from both the BBC and BBC Sports accounts said that “Hingis won the US open doubles titles” and “Hingis does it again.” BBC Sport even carried a photograph of the two but didn’t mention Sania’s name. Even the headline of the article read " Martina Hingis wins fifth doubles title of year."  

Hingis does it again at the #USOpen, taking her Grand Slam tally to 20 http://t.co/12cPMvEluf pic.twitter.com/QsvQP3rzDv

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) September 13, 2015

Hingis wins US Open doubles title http://t.co/rHCHBz18kZ

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) September 13, 2015

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As expected, this didn’t go down very well on social media especially with Indian Twitteratti. Several people replied to the accounts saying that it takes two to win a doubles match.

@BBCNews what! On her own?

— Lord Alex of Wootton (@a_mca) September 13, 2015

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@BBCNews Ambidextrous? Oh wait! Too much ego to mention the "doubles" players with her.

— Forram Gosrani (@MissRahulDravid) September 14, 2015

@BBCNews Dear Sir/Madam,
How can one woman win doubles?

— Hetal (@Wisey_woman) September 13, 2015

Doesn't doubles mean that 2 people won? Racist much? RT @BBCNews Hingis wins US Open doubles title http://t.co/p6heIERKpJ”

— Natasha A. (@Grammar_nazzzi) September 13, 2015

Hingis wins a doubles title, by herself ... isn't that cool
the BBC is so colour sensitive, it can't see brown ... https://t.co/Y739XlqiDv

— Harini Calamur (@calamur) September 14, 2015

According to BBC, Martina Hingis won the US Doubles holding tennis racquets in both her hands. https://t.co/bYAPsMGMUU

— Ray Stings (@Purba_Ray) September 14, 2015

Hingis is seriously amazing! Only woman who can win a doubles title alone! Twice! Remember Wimbledon BBC? https://t.co/p3fl49TwWI

— The Penguin (@Moskvaa) September 14, 2015

What made it worse was the fact that this is the second time that a BBC Twitter account has failed to mention Sania Mirza’s name. [caption id=“attachment_2434430” align=“alignleft” width=“825”]  A screenshot of the deleted BBC India tweet. Image credit: @MattBonesteel[/caption] After the Indo-Swiss pair’s Wimbledon triumph, BBC India’s account has tweeted “Hingis wins Wimbledon doubles final.” Considering that it was an Indian handle that missed Sania’s name, they received instant backlash,with even HRD Minister Smriti Irani pointing out the error.

@BBCIndia so does Sania Mirza

— Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) July 12, 2015

BBC India later deleted the tweet and posted a corrected version.

India's Sania Mirza wins women's Wimbledon doubles with Martina Hingis: http://t.co/QUg1GCfAwK (Correcting earlier tweet - apologies!)

— BBC News India (@BBCIndia) July 12, 2015

The US Open was Sania’s fifth Grand Slam title and second with Hingis. She has previously won three Mixed Doubles title as well. Not to mention her several medals for India as well the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India’s highest sports honour, that she was awarded this year. Here’s hoping that the next time Sania-Hingis win something, both get the credit for it.