Sania Mirza bestowed with Padma Bhushan
Tennis star Sania Mirza was honoured with the Padma Bhushan award at the Rashtrapati Bhavan by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday. The 29-year-old, who is currently ranked No.1 in the world in women's doubles, took to social media to express her delight at receiving this honour.
Mirza has been on a scintillating run of form since pairing up with Martina Hingis in the doubles last year. The Indo-Swiss pair have lifted 11 titles since then, including two Grand Slams. They also won 41 matches in a row and fell just short of eclipsing Jana Novotna and Natasha Zvereva's 44-match winning streak – which is the second highest after 109-match record held by Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver.
Humbled .Honoured. And truly thankful .. #PadmaBhushan 😀🙌 pic.twitter.com/pmatVtvwBZ
— Sania Mirza (@MirzaSania) April 12, 2016
Padma Bhushan is the third highest civilian award in India, after Bharat Ratna and Padma Vibhushan. Sania has now joined the likes of Rahul Dravid, Mary Kom, Leander Paes, Pullela Gopichand, Vishwanathan Anand and Abhinav Bindra, in the long list of legends of Indian sports who have been awarded this honour.
Mirza has already received the Arjuna Award (2004) and the Padma Shri (2006). Last year she was bestowed with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, and she has now added another feather to her dazzling cap.
Complete video of @MirzaSania being conferred with #PadmaBhushan. The third highest civilian award in India.https://t.co/Od7IELb4SL
— Cinema Calendar (@CinemaCalendar) April 12, 2016