"We want women to be World beaters, but not act like them": Sania Mirza

Indian tennis legend Sania Mirza has called out the double standards women athletes face in India, saying while the country celebrates female champions, it still expects them to conform to traditional notions of modesty and restraint.

“We like world beaters in this part of the world, but we don’t want women to act like world beaters. We still expect them to behave like bichare (the unfortunate ones),” Sania said during a panel discussion titled ‘The Sports Women’ hosted by Capri Sports.

The former World No. 1 in doubles spoke candidly about the cultural and social pressures that shape how female athletes are perceived, especially when they carry themselves with confidence or assertiveness.

“If you act like a world beater, people say you’re arrogant. But if you act modest, they say you lack killer instinct. There’s no winning in that,” she said, pointing to the contradictory standards applied to women in sport.

“The onus is also on us"

Reflecting on her own journey that began on cow-dung courts over three decades ago, Sania said India has come a long way, from barely recognising female athletes to now celebrating them on global stages.

“When I started, the only female superstar we heard of was P.T. Usha — and we never even saw her because there was no coverage, no social media. Today, outside of three or four male cricketers, the biggest sporting stars in India are women. That says a lot about the last 50 years,” she noted.

However, she emphasized that female athletes must also take ownership of how they represent themselves, not bend to societal expectations.

“As women in sport, the onus is also on us, how we choose to show up, how we carry ourselves, and what we stand for,” Sania said.

(Quotes via PTI)