Why didn't Rohan Bopanna scream ‘am I a toy boy’?

Does the self-described "bait" tennis player Sania Mirza realise how much of a disservice she does to herself in particular and women in general?

Does she really envisage herself in that nauseating and sexist term? And, what is even sicker is that we make such fools of ourselves in India? If Azharuddin is caught for match fixing, he plays the Muslim card forgetting that he was captain of India; if Bangaru Laxman, the then president of BJP, indicted for accepting a bribe promptly pulls out the trusty Dalit card and now Mirza, with her formidable accomplishments, demeans herself by playing the woman card.

There are only 30 odd days left for the Olympics. Isn't it time that all of us in this country started playing the merit card?

It pains me as a woman to see gender being used to play victim. And, as a feminist, I am appalled that any woman can describe herself as”bait". Why bother with misogyny when we do such a fine job of knocking ourselves down!

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Bopanna, a professional like Mirza, who has also paid a price in the epic Bhupathi-Paes meltdown, did not run screaming hysterically - am I just a toy boy? Maybe because he views himself as a professional athlete first.

And, in all this, genuine casualty are merit and excellence. With less than a month to go, 38 year old men are fighting like kindergarten kids over lunch. Should 38-year-olds even represent the country in a demanding and exacting sport like tennis? Or are they behaving like kids so that we forget their age?

As a nation we are content with wallowing in mediocrity. Striving and excelling scares us. Mostly, because it takes effort, and not tantrums and connections.

But, Mirza you played tennis on merit, so please quit playing the woman card.

And with efforts for these Olympics descending in to a farce, somewhere a certain Suresh Kalmadi still clinging to the chair of the IOA, fresh from jail, must be smiling.

(The views expressed by the author in the blog are his/her own)

Danny - Mumbai
two reasons
1. bopanna was going against the contract and fighting to pair with bhupathi
2. he got what he wanted..

now if sania got what she wanted - she wouldn`t have played woman card, she would have played tennis.

Intelektual - 75950
also your similies make no sense wat-so-ever !
how are corruption charges similar to someone elses unfair or biased decision ! what did she do or is being accused of ??
also merit would suggest her pairing with bhupati (french open mixed doubles) !
for a feminist you are too much out of character.

Pramod Pradhan - Gurgaon
dear author

thanks for being unbiased in you comment.which is rare these days in our media.all play different cards and get away with their crimes in our country.
may your `tribe` (unbiased journalist ,i mean) increase

regards
pramod

Intelektual - 75950
``38 year old men are fighting like kindergarten kids over lunch. should 38 year olds even represent the country in a demanding and exacting sport like tennis. or are they behaving like kids so that we forget their middle age?``

u hav already stated what the men are doing sania just pointed it out too immature men and sania`s the consolling prize ! she is demeaned by the boards decision and is stating a fact and her stste of mind ! remind u that she also agreed to play whoevr she`s paired with even though the pairing is a consolling prize!

Shobhit - Pune
a very biased blogpost. a perfect example of women not enjoying others succeed.
sania is perfectly justifying in questioning the selection. she has simply raised the point why she was not given the courtesy of consulting her before announcing the teams.
its not medieval times when kings would marry off the daughters to settle feuds.

ps: bopanna has been crying like toy boy from the very beginning and being a prat which has led to this very spat.
you cannot treat women like commodities the way aita did just to settle differences between men

rajesh kashyap - pune
ifeel sania is right in her anguish, she has partenered bhupati in many tournaments &also won a couple of grand slams,notably the recent french open.doubles teeams/players need to be on a comfortb zone with each other if they want to suceed. by thrusting paes as sanias partner merely on ranking will not proove sucessfull. i am also surprised at paes, he him self should step down as sanias partner if he has any self pride ,

Oshono - Gurgaon
sania mirza is a fool and anti-india. she can not be expected to act wise.

Ranjan Goyal - Ambala
i think all idiots have come together. i don`t find importance of country in the decision and statemenets of anyone.

few questions:

1. why its important for leander, if someone particular will play with him or not. isn`t it important that he is playing for the country?

2. why bhuparti and bopanna don`t want to play with paes? is it so important for them that playing for the country doesn`t matter?

3. why sania had to put that gender bias remark?

4. why aita woke up late?

even if we don`t get a madle but i am of the opinion that there should be ban on leander, bopanna and bhupati as there personal issues matter more to them in comparison of country. so first let them settle their personal issues.

for sania shhe shou,ld be ordered to pay attention to her game

and aita should publish an apology for waking up late.

Sriram - Delhi
to be honest, bopanna got exactly what he wanted. sania mirza probably didnt have such strong demands or opinions due to which she didnt get into the mud slinging. though i am not a big fan of mirza, i feel her remarks are justified.

no harm in telling the authorities that they have goofed up and taken a player for granted in order to pacify others simply because she didnt throw a tantrum.

ashima Kapoor - India
in every day of our lives and in every field, we the women of india have to face similar circumstances in our families and our worlds. this is like when a father is dividing his assets in a will. the sons and the father decide amongst themselves, fightit out, shout it out and then after deciding everything just inform the ladies including the daughters of their decisions. of course, the daughters now cannot make any changes now because the men have decided. i have seen a lot of pseudo feminists who call these issues trivial and start lecturing about dowry, violence etc.. but this issue is important too. it shows the mentality where the women are not important enough. sania should absolutely refuse to play with leander and should be paired up with bhupathi.

Pradeep - Hydbad
forget the gender part for a moment. why did leander paes have to say that he will agree to play with vardhan as his partner only if sania gives in writing that she will pair with him for mixed doubles? why did a condition apply on her? if it was on merit then paes should have stayed calm with an understanding that anyway sania will pair with him.

i think leander paes has done great service to this nation, but for some reasons the juniors have iota of respect for him. if sania is upset about pairing with him, how in the world will he go with a positive mindset to win a medal in olympics?

i think indian tennis federation should have acted much ahead of time to mend the negativity and done a good job of finding who are the best pairs. but they just woke up, opened the book of ranking and started doing its job of declaring the indian team. they should be answerable to this whole mess not the players. copy.zeenews.india.com