India has learnt to accept female athletes but still a long way to go: Sania

Path-breaking tennis ace Sania Mirza takes pride in the fact that many of India's sporting stars, outside cricket, are women even though she believes that it will take a few more generations before being a sportswoman is seen as a natural career choice in the country.

The winner of six Grand Slam titles, spoke on a range of issues including
"This is a signal that things have changed but we have miles to go before we reach the point where when a girls picks up boxing gloves, or a badminton racquet or says 'I want to be a wrestler', it's not out of ordinary, it should become natural progression."
"There are deeper cultural issues embedded in us and it will take a few more generations to get rid of those issues."
"Log kya kahenge (what will people say) has killed more dreams than anything else. I was lucky to be born to parents, who did not care about it."
"Coaching the girls is more trickier. At the age of 13-14 they are still discovering who they are. There are changes happening in the body. There are hormonal changes which happen throughout their lives."
"Secret to success is competitiveness. I was always aggressive, did not mind losing a few matches or making mistakes ar junior level. The goals were bigger. My parents never told me after I lost a match they why I did not put that ball inside."