Olympic-bound Sania Mirza included in TOPS after hole of 4 years

Indian tennis star Sania Mirza was on Wednesday included within the authorities’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), 4 years after she opted out of the programme.
Sania was chosen within the TOPS throughout the 56th assembly of the Mission Olympic Cell right here.
The 34-year-old a number of Grand Slam winner had opted out of the scheme when she was chosen final in 2017 due to an damage breakdown which had led to a lay-off.
“Yes, Sania has been selected in the recent TOPS list,” a Sports Authority of India supply advised PTI.
Sania has already certified for the Tokyo Olympics primarily based on her protected rating earlier than she took a break from the sport resulting from being pregnant.
Sania is at the moment ranked 157th on the earth however as per WTA guidelines when a participant takes a lay-off from the sport longer than six months on account of accidents or being pregnant, they’ll apply for a “special ranking” (additionally typically generally known as a “protected ranking”).
The particular rating of a participant is their world rating after the final match they performed and in Sania’s case, it was the China Open in October 2017. She was ranked world No. 9 at that time.
So, Sania at the moment has a particular rating of ninth and has already certified for the Tokyo Olympics.
The particular rankings had been launched by WTA due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sania was inactive for 2 years resulting from being pregnant and solely made her return to the courtroom final 12 months following the delivery of her son on the season-opening Hobart International WTA occasion.
She partnered Ukrainian Nadiia Kichenok to win the ladies’s doubles title.