Mirza, 21, has opted out of India's leading tennis event - next month's £305,000 Bangalore Open - saying it was becoming impossible to deal with the controversies. "Every time I have played in India there has been some kind of problem so we just thought it was better not to play at this point," she said. Mirza, Asia's highest-ranked tennis player at number 29, said she had considered quitting the game because of the rows. Tennis writers say that March's Bangalore Open, which will be contested by Venus and Serena Williams, will be poorer without Mirza, who in 2005 became the first Indian woman to win a Women's Tennis Association title. Sharda Ugra, who writes for India Today magazine, said: "When she plays you get a whole different crowd. "I think with Sania we have seen her celebrity get bigger than her athleticism. It is a bit like Monica Seles - she's an attractive young woman with a lot of talent. Of course she is also a Muslim and that attracts other unwanted attention." ----------------------------------------------
Subject: OnSania Mirza (guardian) Date: 2/6/2008 7:14:55 A.M. Eastern Standard Time From: ashafquat@optonline.net Indian tennis star to boycott home events
Randeep Ramesh and Indrani Ghosh Nangia in Delhi
Wednesday February 6, 2008
The Guardian
India's top tennis star, Sania Mirza, will boycott all tournaments in the country this year after a series of off-court controversies, disappointing officials and millions of fans.
__._,_.___
*****************************************
Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm
*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf
*****************************************
MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.
*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm
*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm
*****************************************
Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/
*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm
*****************************************
German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm
*****************************************
Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/faq_mm.htm
****************************************************
VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/
****************************************************
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
-Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe
__,_._,___