No ‘Nice Girl’ Here — Sania And Sindhu’s Guide To Winning With Attitude

MUMBAI — From earning ₹1,000 per match in the 1997 Women’s Cricket World Cup to teenage cricketers commanding crore-plus bids in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2025 auction, women’s sports in India have travelled a long way. Yet, leading athletes say the journey is far from complete.

At The Sports Women Huddle 2025 — Invest in Her, organised by the Capri Sports Foundation, some of India’s most decorated sportswomen spoke about what it will take to move from incremental gains to genuine equality. The panel featured multiple-time Grand Slam champion Sania Mirza, two-time Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu, Paralympic silver medallist Dr. Deepa Malik, and racing champion Atiqua Mir.

They discussed how societal attitudes, corporate sponsorship, and media attention are evolving — and what must change to truly transform women’s sports.

Sania: Represent Yourself Like a World-Beater

Sania Mirza, who has battled stereotypes throughout her career, said the perception of how female athletes should behave still holds them back. Society, she argued, prefers women athletes to remain modest, almost self-effacing — a double standard that can undermine their confidence.

“We have world-beaters in this part of the world. But we don’t want them to act like world-beaters,” she said. “If you act like one, they say you have attitude and you’re arrogant. If you act like a ‘bichari’ (simpleton), then they say you don’t have killer instinct. There is no winning that.”

For her, the solution is simple: “You don’t do anything for other people; you do it for yourself. I don’t care how other people represent me — I care how I represent myself. The onus is on me to have that killer instinct, that attitude, to win.”

Sindhu: Focus on Your Game, Not the Noise

Echoing Sania, P.V. Sindhu said the only perspective that should matter is the athlete’s own. The external swings between adulation and criticism — especially amplified by social media — can be destabilising if taken to heart.

“When you lose, they take you down, and when you win, you’re at cloud nine,” she said. “You don’t have to bother about what they think. What matters is how you feel at the end of the day. If you keep thinking about what others are thinking, it can break you.”

Deepa: Success Stories Can Transform Communities

Dr. Deepa Malik shifted the conversation to inclusion, especially for athletes with disabilities and those from small towns. She believes that visible success stories can reshape entire communities’ attitudes toward women in sport.

“Imagine a disabled girl from a small village winning a Paralympic medal — it can change the total outlook of the village and inspire many more,” she said. “It happened with me after Rio 2016, and now in Paris 2024, so many women have won medals.”

Deepa also underlined the importance of support systems, noting that in some disciplines, she needs a male partner to help strap her into her wheelchair in a way that avoids fouls. For her, such partnerships highlight that progress in women’s sports also relies on allies.

Handling Pressure and Setbacks

The panelists also offered advice to younger athletes, especially those transitioning from junior to senior levels. Losses, they said, are inevitable and essential to growth.

“You will lose a lot initially,” Sania said. “Lose, lose and lose so much that you no longer lose anything.”

Sindhu agreed, adding that resilience and self-belief are what sustain a career in sport. (IANS)