Winning five tennis medals at Asiad is a pretty good show: Sania Mirza

Incheon Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza feels the five medals that the team has managed to grab at the ongoing Asian Games is a pretty good performance given that the country did not come with the best unit possible for the eventIt has been a pretty good week We she and Prarthana Thombare got a medal bronze in womens doubles which is huge because its something that we never did I had to be the leader Its a young team we came here with didnt come with the best team possible especially with the guys Five medals including todays is pretty good she said ahead of the mixed doubles semifinals with Saket Myneni at the Yeorumul Tennis CentreSania Mirza Pic AFPHyderabad and Dubaibased Sania spoke to reporters as the matches for the day had been put off due to continuous rains at Incheon since last nightThe 27yearold Indian tennis star who was initially inclined towards skipping the Games to gain doubles points on the WTA tour before changing her mind said the reason was to provide the country with its best shot at picking up more medals in these Games her fourth on the trot The minute I made the decision to come here I knew it was the right decision For me the most important thing was to give India the best chance of winning as many medals as possible I did what I could and I got two in the two events I played womens doubles and mixed doubles where she and Myneni will fight for the goldI am happy that there was my contribution Personally its my fourth Asian Games in a row and I have got medals in every single Asian Games I have been to For me to get eight medals in the last four editions is pretty good she remarkedBefore the current Games she had won a gold in mixed doubles in 2006 in Doha three silver medals womens singles and team in 2006 and in mixed doubles in 2010 at Guangzhou and two bronze medals womens singles and doubles in Guangzhou Besides she also won silver singles and bronze doubles in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in DelhiSania said she has played her part as a mentor to her women teammates here who are of the same age as her younger sister and is hoping they win medals on their own in the next Games which are scheduled at Jakarta in 2018 I have a good rapport with these girls and I am always there to help if they ask They are all of my sisters age like babies for me They are 78 years younger than me I am sharing a room with one of themMost definitely these are the best youngsters we have had in a while My doubles partner Prarthana has some potential and is still pretty young We need to build on this I hope this gives them a lot of confidence that they can achieve certain things Sania said I have held this flag for a long time It will be great to pass it on to someone else Hopefully by the next Asian Games they will be ready to win a medal by themselves she addedSania who was the world no 23 at her peak in singles pointed out quite a few factors like lack of guidance and proper coaching as reasons for the other Indian women being unable to break into even the top 200 In singles There are a few reasons I definitely think planning is one of them lack of knowledge and lack of maybe even coaching abilities at certain levels I think a lot of coaches in India havent seen what it takes to really make it because they have not produced anyone nor have they been at that levelI am not saying you need to be a great tennis player to be a coach but you need to have watched at the highest level to be a good coach The best they might have watched is the WTA event a few years ago She also said that most of the women players are content to play at the USD 25000 level which was simply not enough to go places in the worldTennis is very competitive these days Physically as well they struggle a bit there are a bunch of reasons I have been trying to help them with scheduling trying to tell them which tournament to take part in First of all they need to come out of the USD 25000 tournaments try and believe they can do better at the bigger tournaments Thats one of the main things Thats where they have to perform Sania saidYou are not going to play these for the rest of your life If you do so you will remain in the 300 rankings for the rest of your career Thats what they have been doing go for the easier options Its not because they want to but because of lack of guidance at certain levels About her own career and her immediate plans she said she was leaving tomorrow morning to play in the September 27October 5 China Open with Cara Black and would probably play tomorrow afternoonIts been rough last couple of weeks Since the US open I have not had any time really I came back after New York and had literally three days at home I was not even over jetlag when I left for Tokyo and then came here Its a good problem to have it has been busy After that I go to Singapore for the WTA seasonending finals she saidSania said her season so far especially the second half has been pretty good and she wanted to finish it on a high Its been a great year and especially the second half of the season has been unbelievable Hopefully we she and Black can finish on a high can win here with Thombare and hopefully go to Singapore which has been the highlight of my career I want to do well there she said