Sania Mirza bids farewell to tennis after first round defeat at Dubai Duty Free Championships
Darpan News Desk IANS, 21 Feb, 2023 01:17 PM
Dubai, Feb 21 (IANS) Indian tennis star Sania Mirza on Tuesday ended her magnificent 20-year-long career with a defeat in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, here.
The 36-year-old India legend lost in straight sets along with American partner Madison Keys in women's doubles tie. The pair went 4-6 0-6 down to Russian pair of Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova in one hour long battle.
A mother to 4-year-old boy Izhaan, Mirza, who had turned pro back in 2003, ended her glorious career with six Grand Slam trophies.
Three of those came in women's doubles with Swiss great Martina Hingis. The other three were in mixed doubles, two of which were with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi - 2009 Australian Open and 2012 French Open - while the other one was a US Open trophy with Bruno Soares.
Earlier last month, Sania was denied a fairytale ending to her Grand Slam career after she lost in the Australian Open mixed doubles final with Rohan Bopanna.
Mirabai was greeted at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, surrounded by security forces. The 26-year-old, with a face shield and mask on her face, was felicitated by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) officials.
While Kuwait's Abdullah Al-Rashidi, who is 57, won a bronze medal in men's skeet event in the shooting competition, 13-year-old Momiji Nishiya became Japan's youngest gold medal winner when she won the women's street skateboarding competition.
Nike Lorenz (12th minute) scored off a penalty corner in the first quarter and Anne Katarina Schroder (35th minute) scored in the third quarter as Germany won their second successive match after beating Great Britain 2-1 on Sunday.
The team said in a statement that it will begin playing home games at Rogers Centre again starting July 30 after receiving a so-called National Interest Exemption from the federal government.
Vince raced to 102 off 95 deliveries and Gregory struck his 77 of 69 balls as hosts England, chasing Pakistan's challenging score of 331 for seven wickets, reached 332 for seven with two overs to spare.
