On May 11, 2020, Indian professional tennis player Sania Mirza (33) has created new history by becoming the 1st Indian to win Fed Cup Heart Award 2020 for Asia/Oceania zone. She beats Indonesia’s 16-year-old Priska Madelyn Nugroho for this category & received the award for her successful return to the court after becoming a mother.
Key Points:
i.Sania is one of 4 winners chosen by a public vote, alongside Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia (wins Qualifiers award), Mexico’s Fernanda Contreras Gomez (Americas I zone) and Estonian Anett Kontaveit (Europe/Africa I zone).
ii.Sania, who got more than 10,000 votes (60%) out of a total of 16,985, has decided to give a prize money of $ 2000 (about Rs 1.5 lakh) to the Telangana Chief Minister Relief Fund to help battle against coronavirus (COVID-19).
iii.Background: Former doubles No.1 and six-time Grand Slam winner Sania returned to the Fed Cup after four years and for the first time in history, India made it to the playoffs. After giving birth to her son Izhaan in October 2018, Sania returned to the court in January this year and won the Hobart International along with Nadiia Kichenok.
About Fed cup:
It is the world’s largest annual international team competition in women’s sport with 108 nations entered in 2019 was launched in 1963.
About Fed Cup Heart Award:
It is an International Tennis Federation(ITF) initiative established in 2009 to recognise players representing their countries in the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas.
About ITF:
Headquarters– London, United Kingdom
President– David Haggerty
