Khel Ratna will encourage and inspire me to do better: Sania Mirza

New Delhi: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza, who will receive the prestigious Khel Ratna award on 29 August, said on Friday that her former mixed doubles partner Mahesh Bhupathi too is a deserving candidate for the honour and hoped he will receive the recognition in near future. Sania, who is only the second tennis player after Leander Paes to be named for the award, said such a recognition motivates a sportsperson to excel him or her for the country. [caption id=“attachment_2314528” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File picture of Sania Mirza. AFP[/caption] “We play for the country and if the government gives recognition for our achievement, we feel a sense of pride. I thank the Sports Ministry for nominating me for the award. This will encourage and inspire me to do better. It is humbling for for me,” Sania said on the eve of the award function to be held at the Rashtrapati Bhawan here. “I am not from the Sports Ministry but Mahesh (Bhupathi) is a great player and he has done a lot for Indian tennis. Hopefully, he will also get the award,” she said. The 28-year-old Hyderabadi, who has three mixed doubles titles to her credit besides winning the prestigious Wimbledon women’s doubles title this year partnering Martina Hingis of Switzerland and also securing the world number one position in the doubles WTA rankings, said 2015 has been a dream-come-true year for her. “This has been my best year. I got number one position and won a Grand Slam. Since we are number one I and Martina (Hingis) are expected to win each and every match. I want to raise the bar higher and higher,” Sania said. Sania also thanked the US Open orgainsers for cooperating with her by postponing her matches to let her personally receive the Khel Ratna award tomorrow. “The US Open orgainsers are very considerate and they said our matches will start a couple of days later. They know the importance of the award and they said our matches will start Wednesday or Thursday,” she said. Asked about next year’s Rio Olympics, she said: “I just set short-term goals and I am not thinking about Rio Olympics. Who knows how I will be in the next few months and the same goes for other Indian athletes who will represent the country in Rio. But I hope we do well and win a medal in Rio.” The awards will be presented by President Pranab Mukherjee on the occasion of National Sports Day commemorating Hockey legend Dhyan Chand’s birthday. PTI