Sania no role model for students

March 16, 2006

She may have broken into the top 40 in the ATP rankings, could be endorsing everything from pulse polio programmes to soft drinks to cars.

All of 20, tennis ace Sania Mirza has been a sensation on and off the field.

But the success story of India's youngest tennis star is not inspiring enough to be told to students.

She is still not 'big' enough to he hailed as a role model for students - at least this is what the National Council for Education Research and Training would like to believe.

Which is why a suggestion to have a chapter Sania in the new NCERT schoolbooks has been turned down.

The council, that frames books for schoolchildren, has come up with a list of personalities as role models for young students and has promptly left out the tennis ace from the list.

Instead there will be a lesson on Bachendri Pal, the first Indian women to climb Mount Everest.

"We want to portray a woman who was strong and overcame difficulties," Head of Hindi Department, NCERT, Ram Janam Sharma says.

Bachendri was the first Indian woman to climb to the summit of Mt. Everest, in 1984. She qualified for the Everest '84 expedition after a grueling series of selection camps.

The year after this accomplishment, Pal led an all-woman team to Everest, and in 1994, led an all-woman rafting team down the Ganga, from Hardwar to Calcutta.

In 1997, she was the leader for an all-woman, seven month traverse of the Himalayas.

Sania, on the other hand, is the highest ranked Indian female tennis player from India.

Ranked 31 in singles and 109 in doubles by mid-October 2005, she broke into the top 50 world rankings in the year.

As of October 2005, she also ranked 2nd among Asian women.

She became the first Indian woman to reach the 4th round of a Grand Slam tournament at the 2005 US Open, defeating Mashona Washington, Maria Elena Camerin and Marion Bartoli.

Having got a wild card entry to the 2005 Australian Open Mirza reached the third round, losing to eventual champion Serena Williams.

Sania, who has a huge fan following around the world and has dedicated fan websites to her name, rules the advertising charts as well.

She commands ad sponsorships to the tune of $0.35 mn per brand per annum.

In 2005, she was awarded the Arjuna award - India's highest sporting honour in tennis for the year 2004.

She was also honoured with with Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in 2006.

She has also defeated two top 10 players, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova.

However, none of it makes her the ideal role model for children.