They say looks don’t count in sport. It’s the performance that matters. The second sentence is gospel. The first, absolute rubbish. In modern-day sport, plain Janes and simple Simons will never be able to capture the public imagination the way some of their glamourous counterparts do, irrespective of the performance on the field.
How else do we explain the remarkable popularity of Russian tennis player Anna Kournikova, who did zilch on the courts but thanks to her long legs and a perfect-10 figure, won more admirers than Serena and Venus Williams put together?
Kournikova can’t hold a candle to the Williams sisters in achievements on the court, but hey, in a match between Kournikova and Serena, who would you be rooting for?
And over the last couple of days, we saw something similar happen back home. It’s a story of two girls with similar-sounding names. Saina Nehwal and Sania Mirza, the chalk and the cheese… one on top of her game, the other, down in the dumps.
A few days ago, Saina, from a small town in Haryana, did the unthinkable by becoming only the second Indian woman (after Ami Ghia) to break into the top 10 rankings in world badminton and she is still going great in Malaysia wher she has already reached the semi-finals of Malaysian Super Series
It’s a massive achievement, considering the domination of the Chinese, Korean and Malaysian shuttlers. But our spunky girl did achieve the impossible, and is very confident of breaking into top five within the next 12 months.
But the reaction of our media to this development was muted, to say the least. An anchor story on sports pages, a two-column picture, and a quote! No congratulatory messages from the sports minister, no cash rewards, no guest editorship of any newspaper!
Compare this with the time Sania Mirza reached the third round of Wimbledon and eventually lost to Serena. The Indians went mad, as our girl broke into top 50…yes, top 50, for God’s sake. Not top 10, not top 20, or even 30!
By the time the Hyderabad lass landed back after being thumped by Serena, India was completely gripped by Sania Mania. Sourav Ganguly, the then skipper, was seen trying to fit a crown on her head at a function in Siliguri, Sonia Gandhi hosted her at 10 Janpath, newspapers ran cover stories on her success — what she ate, what she wore, what she liked, disliked, her favourite car — everything was macronized.
Now, after being dumped out of top 100 rankings, Sania continues to make news. Why? Simple enough. Sania looks sexy. She speaks with an accent, and more importantly, wears an attitude which is advertisers’ delight. She is HOT. Saina is talented, but is she sexy? Is she hot? You’ve got your answers, buddy.
Even in cricket, it’s no different. How else do you explain the contrasting fan following of Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble? In terms of cricketing achievements, Kumble is not one bit lesser than Tendulkar. In fact, Kumble has a Test century, but Tendulkar can never dream of taking all ten wickets even in Ranji Trophy!
In terms of looks, Kumble — tall and lean — would leave Tendulkar far behind. But Tendulkar has the charisma. And style. His designer glasses and T-shirts, his Mercedes and BMWs wowed the fans as much as his on-field hitting.
Tendulkar was always that elusive star you can never reach out to. You can only admire him from afar. Kumble, on the other hand, was your regular engineer-types who also played cricket. You know you can always shake his hand.
The world, and not just India, is short on heroes and heroines. Just being talented and sincerity are not enough to inspire others. A generous dose of charisma goes a long way turning the world on its head. What say, Sania?
— Tapan Joshi
Do you think popularity of a sportswoman is directly proportional to her looks rather than her game?
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