India’s doubles world number one Sania Mirza has promised to take a measured approach to next year’s Olympics, promising “I’m not going to kill myself!” if she fails to bring home a gold medal.
Excitement over the Rio de Janeiro Games is already ramping up with high speculation over who will team up with Mirza as she seeks to win a rare Olympic gold for India.
Mirza and her new partner Martina Hingis have cut a swathe through the doubles circuit this year, winning Wimbledon and the US Open among eight titles altogether including the China Open on Saturday.
The 28-year-old said it would be “amazing” to win Olympic gold, but also stressed that it wasn’t the only target in a sport which has four Grand Slam tournaments every year.
“It would be amazing. As players we do want that, but we also have four Slams a year,” she said in interview at the China Open in Beijing.
“So it’s not like a lot of other sports where they get one opportunity every four years — we kind of get opportunities every four months.
“So it would be amazing, it would feel like probably I’ve won everything then if I win that Olympic medal. But if I don’t, I’m not going to kill myself.
“I mean life goes on.”
India’s Olympic successes have been few and far between, with only one non-team gold medal so far at any of the Summer Games — going to bespectacled shooter Abhinav Bindra at Beijing 2008.
