When Sania Mirza refused to play in the US because of an upside-down Indian flag
India's most successful women's tennis player Sania Mirza has made the country proud many times in her career. Mirza once held the number position in the WTA Women's Doubles Rankings, and she has won six Grand Slam doubles titles.
In an exclusive live chat with Indranil Basu on Sportskeeda's Facebook page, Sania Mirza's father, Imran Mirza, revealed a lesser-known incident from Mirza's career. Back in 2005 at one of the US tourneys, the organizers hoisted the Indian flag upside down. The Hyderabad-based player was disappointed and did not take the court for 45 minutes until the flag was correctly hoisted.
Sania Mirza was the first to notice that the flag was upside down: Father Imran
Imran Mirza spoke about a range of interesting topics during the interview. He talked about his son-in-law Shoaib Malik and lauded him for his phenomenal performances on the cricket field.
Imran also mentioned that Malik had only gotten fitter in the last ten years, which has helped him extend his career.
When asked to tell an untold story on Sania Mirza's career, Imran recalled her 2005 US tour and said:
"In 2005, she was playing in the US, just before the US Open. She was around 18 years old, and there is a practice in most of the tournaments where they have flags of the countries that are put up and the Indian flag was put upside down over there, and she was the first one to notice that."
"She refused to play for around 45 minutes until they got someone to climb up and turn the flag in a proper manner. She refused to play until that was properly done," he continued.
Imran signed off by saying that he was incredibly proud of Sania Mirza because she always wants to see India's flag flying high.