Sania Mirza, a tennis player, and a mother, recently came up about the difficulties of being both an athlete and a mother in an interview with NDTV.
The tennis star said she had a tough time obtaining a visa to enter England.
Sania Mirza will compete in the women’s doubles tournament at Wimbledon, where she will be paired with Bethanie-Mattek Sands. The Indian tennis superstar will next compete in her fourth Olympic Games in Tokyo.
“Even till the last moment, we weren’t being allowed to board the plane. The plane was leaving in five minutes and there was an issue with the visa. It was really dramatic.”
She said that she was granted an exemption as an athlete upon arriving in England, but that her kid and sister were not, and that they had to be quarantined as per government regulations. The athlete claimed she hadn’t seen her kid in nine days and couldn’t understand why he wasn’t an important part of her squad.
“I think being an athlete in these times or any career is tough enough. But being a mother who has to travel from week to week with a toddler or with a young daughter is definitely not easy. And it’s got its own set of challenges,” she told NDTV.
#NDTVExclusive | “I was trying to stay as positive as possible”: Sania Mirza (@MirzaSania), six-time Grand Slam winner, on #COVID19 pandemic pic.twitter.com/zQ2B2Q57EC
— NDTV (@ndtv) June 29, 2021
The six-time Grand Slam champion said that the only thing that mattered was that she was at Wimbledon.
Sania also expressed gratitude to India’s Sports Minister, Kiren Rejiju, for supporting her and assisting her during the process.
She praised him saying “He was literally one call away every single time. I really don’t think that it would have happened without his help. He really deserves a lot of credit.”
The 34-year-old also expressed gratitude to everyone who assisted her on her journey to England.
“It was a collective effort in me being able to compete here and I think that’s what it is all about. It takes that team effort for great things to happen.”
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