Articles
1950
January 2 – “Miss Sultana Ranked India’s No. One Woman Player”
Mr. Sikander Azam paid tributes to the fine display of Miss Sultana who fought in all the matches to the last and that it was entirely due to her effort that the ladies team was able to come to the finals of the Inter-Provincial tournament for the first time in the history of Hyderabad Table Tennis…
January 4 – “Young Sultana of Hyderabad Rocketed to Top Rank”
Patience and calmness in Miss Sultana of Hyderabad was amply awarded. She won the title. This young girl of 13 started her career in table tennis first this year and so soon achieved the highest. It is the match temperament that got her the title, name and fame. She has been selected to represent India in the world championship for the Corbillion Cup…
January 29 – “All-India Champion at 13 Miss Sultana (Hyderabad)”
Miss Sultana won the singles title by defeating Mrs. Rajagopalan (East Punjab) in the National Table Tennis Championship at Hyderabad…
September 3 – “Miss Sultana to play in Bombay”
The National Champion Miss S. Sultana, who had lowered the colors of Bombay’s Gool Nasikwalla and beat Mrs. Rajagopalan, of Simla, in the last Inter-Provincial tournament, has informed the organizers that she would definitely participate in the competition…
September 18 – “Girls Champion Sayeed Sultana’s Impressive Debut in Bombay T. T.”
Salwar and odni clad, fourteen-year old, Sayeed Sultana, the national champion from Hyderabad, made her debut in the C.C.I. Table Tennis Championship. Exhibiting an all-round game and combining steady defense with fine attack, she won both her matches with comfort. On her present form, she should do very well against Bombay’s better players…
September 22 – “Sayeed Sultana’s Fine Display Against Enid Bocarro”
Petite fourteen-year-old national champion, Sayeed Sultana, as was expected, qualified for the final of the women’s singles in the Cricket Club of India Open Table Tennis Championships at the expense of Enid Bocarro. Magnificent defense and fine retrieving powers were the principal factors of Sayeed Sultana’s triumph. What impressed me most, more than the variety of her strokes, was the fine synchronization of her shots with the perfect rhythm of her movement…
September 22 – “Lilljee & Miss Sultana Oust Top-Seeded Pair to Enter Mixed Final”
Young Basha Lalljee, in partnership with the National Women’s Champion, 14-year-old Sayeed Sultana, romped into the final of the mixed doubles. They surprised the top-seeded pair, Yatin Vyas and Gool Nasikwalla. In the mixed semi-final, it was teenager Sayeed Sultana who stole the limelight in the event with her sparkling display against odds…
September 23 – “India’s No. 1 Miss Sultana in Two Finals”
Fourteen-year-old National Table Tennis Champion, Miss Sayeed Sultana, from Hyderabad, lived up to her reputation, when this evening she recorded a splendid victory over Bombay’s former national champion Miss Enid Bocarro, to enter the final of the women’s singles…
December 27 – “She Broke Purdah”
Meet Sayeed Sultana, India’s No. 1 Table Tennis player and 14-year-old daughter of Mr. Ahmed Ali, Assistant Settlement Commissioner to the Government of Hyderabad. She has broken tradition in being the first Muslim girl to disregard purdah and participate in open table tennis tournaments. Her table tennis career is very brief indeed, it dates back only three years. In her first appearance in a tournament— the Hyderabad women’s open championships—she won the title. The next year saw her attain what many have striven for years to achieve and failed. At the very young age of 13 plus she became India’s No. 1 woman player by winning the National Title…
1951
January 1 – “Miss Sultana & Thackersay Retain their Titles”
Thirteen-year-old Miss Sultana (Hyderabad) retained All-India Women’s title beating Miss Rukmani (Madras). Miss Sultana won by excelling in placements and defense, she easily had the measure of her opponent and won in straight games. The Madras player seemed subdued and did not produce the aggressive form she had shown in the earlier encounters…
January 1 – “Miss Sultana Retains Women’s Trophy”
Ranking of Players for 1951:
1. Miss Sayeed Sultana (Hyderabad)
2. Miss A. Rukmani (Madras)
3. Mrs. Gool Nasikwala (Bombay)
4. Mrs. Rajagopalan (Punjab)
5. Miss V. P. Siriawrdene (Ceylon)…
February 20 – “Sultana Leaves for Vienna on February 24”
As per information received from the Hon. Secretary, Table Tennis Federation of India, Miss Sayeed Sultana, the National Champion will leave Hyderabad to participate in the World Championship to be held at Vienna (Austria) from March 2 to 11…
March 4 – “World Table Tennis Championship (Vienna) – Indian girl extends champion”
In the match against Romania, Miss Sultana, the Indian Champion, played a delightful game. She was the center of interest and won tremendous applause from the spectators. To everyone’s surprise she succeeded in taking one game from the World Champion. Mrs. Angelica Roseanu (12-21, 21-7, 21-19). Miss Sultana was the youngest competitor in the World Championships and no player has attracted more attention or has been more popular…
April 10 – “Miss Sultana sure of Top Honors (London)”
A girl everyone wanted to talk to tonight was pig-tailed 13-year-old Sayeed Sultana of Hyderabad, who in the West of England Championships got into the women’s final and also won the junior girl’s singles. With her feet planted firmly on the ladder to the highest honors in world table tennis, she is not at all worried at the amount of school she is missing. Good at mathematics, history and geography she is confident she will take the School Leaving Certificate quite easily when she gets back to Hyderabad…
April 14 – “Miss Sultana Impresses in England”
Unknow outside India until the recent World Championships, Miss Sultana has created a very good impression in the table tennis world by her feat in being the only player to take a game off the world champion Mrs. Angelica Rosenau of Rumania…
May 26 – “Leach thinks Sultana will wear World Crown”
World table tennis champion, Johnny Leach, today said in an interview here he would not be surprised if India’s No. 1 woman player, Miss Sultana, one day become the world champion. Leach felt the standard of table tennis in India was quite high…
May 27 – “Miss Sultana Wins Triple Crown (Calcutta)”
The evening conferred on the 13-year-old Miss Sayeed Sultana, the triple crown in women’s play. Her sweet and sedate style of play lit up by a simple smile had already been internationality noted. She won notable victories abroad and added more titles in the evening to her two conservative National Singles…
June 3 – “India Table Tennis Surprise: Sultana – In the world of sports”
Ruling supreme among the lady table-tennis players that gathered at Calcutta’s East India Table Tennis Championships wonder-girl from Hyderabad, Sayeed Sultana made a clean sweep of all the ladies’ titles. With Bengal’s R. Bhandari she beat all the mixed combinations, including that of France’s No. 1 M. Hagunencur and Miss Moses. With Shrimati Rajgopalan she beat Chaman Madan and Shrimati Rukmani to win the doubles’ title and beating her old rival Gool Nasikwalla in the singles, she won the singles’ crown. All this made world table tennis champion Britain’s Johnny Leach (who is also participating in East-India Championships with France’s No. 1 M. Hagunenaur) say that 15-year-old Sultana is world class player in the making. He further added that he would not be surprised if Sultana one day became the world champion. We would like to know what the All-India Table Tennis Federation will be doing in the matter of coaching this player…
June 14 – “Teen-Age Champion Who Won World Fame – Sayeed Sultana, India’s No. 1 “Pingpong” Girl”
Like Alexander the Great, petite Sayeed Sultana has achieved world fame while yet a teenager. It would be unique in any country, very much more so for Hyderabad. That she has added to the glory of India that is Bharat is as it should be in our great secular and democratic republic. Unassuming and shy at this romantic age, Sayeed Sultana can be coldly practical in her game and charmingly unaffected otherwise…
August 24 – “Jayant, Miss Sultana & Bhandari Win Two Titles Each (Madras)”
The best match of the evening was the Ladies’ Singles final, which produced thrilling and scintillating table tennis. Mrs. Rajagopalan, two games up, was unlucky to lose the title, when in the third game with the score 20-18 in her favor she netted twice and ultimately lost the game by the two points difference. Miss Sultana’s victory was well-merited one for the grit shown by her and her wonderful defens. It was not pure defense of returning the-ball-somehow variety. But her returns were clever and were made amazingly when all seemed lost. At times she also finished strongly catching her opponent on the wrong foot…
August 25 – “Who’s who in Sports – Miss Sultana”
Born on Sept. 14, 1936, Miss Sultana attends the Mahmubia Girls’ School of Hyderabad. She was recently honored by Happy Youngsters Club, who elected her President in recognition of the name she won for Hyderabad sport. She has yet to preside over a meeting, but when she does, there can be no doubt, she will acquit herself creditably, for she is as fluent a conversationalist as she is a stroke-maker. In her tour of England and the Continent, she got on very well with her hosts, except that she had difficulty in addressing, as well as writing, the names of some of the foreign players. She had the greatest worry with the name of the French star, Haguenaeur. Even this day, she does not know how to pronounce it, much less to write it…
September 8 – “Women’s Singles Honors for Sayeed Sultana”
Sayeed Sultana, India’s reigning queen, defeated Gool Nasikwalla in the final of the women’s singles. Her performance was highlighted by judicious hitting, and these, along with some clever placements, sufficed to break up Mrs. Nasikwalla’s defensive tactics. Miss Sultana won the women’s doubles title in partnership with Vijaya Rajagopalan and is heading for triple crown…
September 15 – “This Week in Delhi Sport“
If a poll were to be taken among the sports enthusiasts of the country for the “sportsman (or is it sportswoman?) of the year,” I have a very strong feeling teenager Miss Sayeed Sultana of Hyderabad will rout other candidates. The measure of her popularity is something which has to be seen to be believed…
September 15 – “Miss Sultana’s Splendid Debut in Delhi Tournament”
That “broth of a girl,” Miss Sayeed Sultana, is on her triumphant march to conquer new worlds. Making her debut in Delhi on Friday, she hit with purpose, power and precision to overcome Mrs. C.K. Pillai and enter the final of the women’s singles event in the State Table Tennis Tournament.
September 19 – “Miss Sultana for Training in England”
The women’s national champion, Miss Sayeed Sultana, is likely to go to England for three months coaching, either in October or early November. This she told me, would help her prepare for the world table tennis championship to be held in Bombay in February. This slip of a girl I associated with pigtails and dolls and I told her so. “But I am feeling pretty old,” she replied, “you know I was fourteen on Friday.” …
December 29, 1951 – “Miss Saeed Sultana Wins Three Titles”
Miss Sayeed Sultana, India’s most promising Table Tennis Star, won three titles—Women’s Singles, Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles…
1952
February 1 – “Table Tennis Wonder Sayeed Sultana”
In the Marcel Corbillon Cup Women’s Championships at Vienna last year, a nervous looking girl in plaited hair, forced champion Angelica Rozeanu to surrender a game—the only game she ever did in the entire course of the championships she won for Rumania and herself…
March 14 – “Bharat’s National Champion is a Muslim Girl”
There was another woman that brought honor to Asia and that mantle of honor fell on a Muslim girl, Miss Sayeed Sultana of Hyderabad, the 16-year Table Tennis Champion of India. When it was announced that the World Table Tennis Championship was to be held in an Asian country, a Press report carried the news that the Hyderabad Government had granted a scholarship to Miss Sultana to go abroad for intensive practice. But for unknown reasons she could not go. Perhaps it would have made a great difference if she had gone…
July 28 – “Three Titles for Sayeed Sultana – Altaf Ali Annexes Singles Crown (Bangalore)”
Baby-faced Sayeed Sultana, India’s No. 1, lived up to her reputation when she annexed the triple crown in the Cubbon Courts Club Open Table Tennis Championships which concluded on Sunday evening. The Jayashala, Bangalore, was packed to capacity, with many followers of the game having to wend their way back home due to no accommodation. Not since the visit of Richard Bergmann and Victor Barna the year before last, did one see such a big crowd turn out to witness this pat-ball game. The men’s singles crown also went to Hyderabad, young Altaf Ali (17-year-old), brother of Sayeed Sultana…
August 21 – “Miss Sayeed Sultana leaves for Karachi”
Miss Sayeed Sultana, the Table Tennis player left for Bombay last night en route to Karachi to take part in Pakistan Table Tennis Tournament. She was seen off at the station by prominent sports men of Hyderabad…
August 30 – “Women’s Title for Miss Sultana (Karachi)”
Miss Fatima Jinnah gave away the prizes!
In the Women’s Singles final, the young Karachi schoolgirl Munira Fikree offered little resistance to Miss Sayeed Sultana of India who registered a comfortable victory in three straight games. It took Miss Sultana hardly 12 minutes to win the Singles final. Miss Munira was overawed from the beginning and failed to return Miss Sultana’s smashes. Miss Sultana was in top form and though her opponent tried to give a fight, she found herself completely outclassed by the more experienced player who drove and placed with deadly effect. The final score read 21-6, 21-13, 21-8 in favor of the Indian Champion…
September 28 – “Miss Sultana Wins Two Titles (Bangalore)”
True to form, and reigning champions of the “pat-ball” game in India, Sayeed Sultana lived up to her reputation when the second annual Mysore State Table Tennis Championships concluded on Saturday. She gained a ‘double’ in winning the women’s singles and mixed event partnered with her brother Altaf Ali.
1953
February 21 – “East India Tournament – Two Titles for Jayant and Sultana (Calcutta)”
Miss Sayeed Sultana, India’s Women National Champion had little difficulty in disposing of Miss E. Moses in the final of the Domen’s Singes in three straight games. The Mixed Doubles final also provided a very interesting match in which R. Bhandari and Miss S. Sultana, the holders of National Mixed Double Title clinched the issue in their favor after losing the first two games and winning the next three in a row…
May 3 – “National Championship – Singles Title for Miss Sultana (New Delhi)”
Meeting Mrs. Nasikwala for the first time after the latter had won her Asian title at Singapore, Miss Sultana exhibited complete mastery over her opponent both in offence and defense. Relying mostly on deft placement she had Mrs Nasikwala running from one end to the other. The latter relied mainly on defense with only an occasional chop thrown in between her defensive returns…
May 4 – “Doubles Crown for Sultana (New Delhi)”
Miss Sayeed Sultana, National Champion, won the double crown when, partnering her brother, Altaf Ali, she beat Mrs Gool Nasikwala, triple crown holder of the recent Asian Championships, and D. Sampat in three straight games. Sampat and Nasikwala were no match to Altaf and Sultana who were definitely superior in every department of the game…
July 5 – “Karachi Table Tennis – Triple Crown for Miss Sultana”
Miss Sultana, India’s foremost woman table tennis player, to-day annexed the women’s singles and mixed doubles titles to win the triple crown in the Islamia table tennis tournament. Miss Sultana won the women’s doubles title yesterday in partnership with Mrs Gool Nasikwala, the Asian Champion…
August 11 – “Sayeed Sultana Bags Three Titles in Bombay State Tournament”
Petite Sayeed Sultana, the national women’s singles champion from Hyderabad, won the triple crown at her first attempt in the Bombay State Open Table Tennis Championships. Sayeed Sultana registered her third success when, in partnership with Bengal’s Ranbir Bhandari, she accounted for the hard-hitting combination from Khalsa College Ruby Satarawalla and Vithal Nadkarni in the final of the mixed doubles. India’s top pair in the game, gave a brilliant exhibition of perfect stroke-play and superb understanding while disposing of their opponents…
December 20 – “Triple Crown for Sultana in National T.T.”
All kudos to Hyderabad’s Sayeed Sultana, the teen-aged national women’s champion who was solely responsible for wresting the Jayalakshmi Cup, the trophy for the Inter-Association Women’s event in the National Table Tennis, from Bombay’s strangle hold last week at Trivandrum. Besides Sultana also extended her lease on the national title and won the triple crown. Hyderabad’s victory this year is not by any means a small achievement. Skipper Sultana and Hyderabad have every reason to be proud of the fame brought to the state…
1954
March 31 – “World Tourney – India’s Chances at Wembley. Opinions of Barna and Leach”
India’s excellent women’s team had also drawn unfortunately against the strongest possible opponents in Romania, Hungary and Scotland. “Again, it will be a close struggle for the third place between India and Rumania”, Leach said. Miss Sultana was easily the most outstanding woman player in the tournament, but she would lack first-class support from team fellows. “Thiruvengadam and Miss Sultana are India’s main hopes.” Barna said “In Sultana, India has a girl with World Championship potentialities. I have played against her several times on my two visits to India and in championships abroad”…