DOHA (Qatar): India’s tennis ace Sania Mirza wants to add the elusive Olympic medal to her collection despite going down in the doubles at the Qatar Total Open semifinals here on Thursday.
The Hyderabad-born player and her partner Slovenian Andreja Klepac lost to D Schuurs/N Melichar 5-7, 6-2, 5-10 at the .
Back on court in Doha for the doubles event after a year-long hiatus due Covid-19 pandemic, she is keen to pick up good ranking points in the season ahead as it can help her a ticket to Tokyo Olympic Games.
“I want to give myself another shot at it, sure. Whether I can be or will I be able to, time will tell. But, yes, that is something that is important to me. It’s something that I have thought about, and it was one of the motivations for me to come back,” said Sania.
Currently ranked No. 254 in doubles, Sania received a wildcard entry into the WTA’s first event of the year, Abu Dhabi Women’s Tennis Open.
But the Hyderabadi had to pull out from the UAE event as she contracted the virus and recovered in January this year.
The 34-year-old said if she is able to make it to the Olympics it will be her fourth and possibly her last chance to bring home the medal from the multidiscipline event.
“Definitely one of the reasons that motivates me to continue and I would like to put myself in that position, to be able to compete at my fourth Olympics if I do make it,” she added.
Mirza’s career-best performance at the Olympics came in 2016 when she made it to the Mixed-Doubles bronze medal match with Rohan Bopanna, but lost.
“We came really, really close to winning that medal last time. We lost the bronze medal match, but I feel like when I sort of close this chapter of my life, which is tennis, I feel like if I look back, probably then an Olympic medal is something that I would have loved to win if I was supposed to close my chapter today,” Sania said.
