New Delhi: In yet another first for Indian Tennis, Sania Mirza has brought home India’s first-ever Fed Cup Heart Award in Asia/Oceania category by winning a whopping 10,000 plus votes out of the total 16,985 votes cast for this year’s three regional Group I nominees.

The Fed Cup Heart Award winners were determined by online voting by fans which went on for a week starting from 1 May to 8 May, 2020.

Sania Mirza’s vote share of over 60% of the total votes is a testimony to the global popularity of the Indian star at the Fed Cup competition.

“It’s an honour to win the Fed Cup Heart Award as the first Indian. I dedicate this award to the entire country and to all my fans and thank everyone for voting for me. I hope to bring more laurels to the country in the future. I want to donate the money that I get from this award to the Telangana Chief Minister’s Relief Fund as the world is going through very difficult times with the virus”, said the 33-year-old tennis star from Hyderabad.

The Fed Cup Heart Award is an International Tennis Federation (ITF) initiative that was established in 2009 to recognise those Fed Cup players who represent their countries with distinction, show exceptional courage on court and demonstrate outstanding commitment to the ideals of the competition.

The winners from each category are also awarded with prize money of US $2000. In the Asia/Oceania regional category, former world number one and six-time Grand Slam winner, Sania Mirza was pitted against Indonesia’s 16-year-old Priska Madelyn Nugroho.

Anett Kontaveit (Estonia) emerged victorious from Europe/Africa and Fernanda Contreras Gomez of Mexico triumphed over Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg from the Americas region.