Sania Mirza Serves up an Ace
India’s best ever female tennis player today made a surprising announcement that she has called off her engagement with Mohammed Sohrab Mirza. In a statement she said “We were friends for years but found ourselves incompatible as fiancées. I wish Sohrab the very best in life.” Most men dread hearing the “wish you the best” part in the end. It normally feels like someone just drove a dagger through our hearts :)
Sania like most tennis players to come out of India has not completely lived up to her potential or the hype. When her tennis career is all said and done she will be remembered for all the controversies surrounding her and not for her conquests on the tennis court. But this should not overshadow the fact that Sania is a pioneer in her own sense.
Tennis is a popular game in India. But learning to play tennis is not very easy to do in India. Tennis courts that are in decent shape are rare and those that are available are normally dominated by male players. But this did not prevent Sania from learning tennis and quickly becoming the best tennis player in India and the only Indian female tennis player to be ranked in a Grand Slam tournament. She was also at the time the highest ranked female tennis player from the Muslim community.
Mainstream India is not yet ready for individuals like Sania. They do not fit into the stereotypical mould that certain members of society expect them to be in. She comes from a Muslim family but her tennis attire has created controversy among conservative members of the society in the past.
The All India Shia Muslim Personal Law Board had to intervene and had to overturn the fatwa issued by Haseeb-ul-hasan Siddiqui (Sunni Ulema Board) indicating that the tennis attire she was wearing was not valid according to Islam. Pressure like this from society is the last thing an 18 year old Sania needed as she was embarking on a promising tennis career.
She unknowingly stepped into another controversy when she reportedly said the following at a conference on safe sex: “You don’t want me to tell you that you have safe sex, whether it is before or after marriage. Everyone must know what he or she is doing”. These comments sound reasonable and smart considering the circumstances but not in India.
The public manner in which she announced her break up will also rattle a few traditionalists. There will be criticism from those who are champions of the “institution of marriage and family values”, the religious fundamentalists and those of us who cannot understand that people do sometimes grow apart.
Related posts:
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- Muslim Board to Dissuade Divorces Among Indian Muslims
- Sir Donald Bradman is the Greatest Batsman?
- IPL Puts India in an Embarassing Situation
- Indian Premier League’s Credibility Tainted
Category: Sports & Entertainment
Not in India…would be exaggeration but not within a community and political spectrum..absolutely….
We have an tendency of overindulgence and our result in Tennis is just outcome of that…
I think like many societies in the world we take celebrities too seriously. This has reached a crescendo as far as cricket players are concerned.
She is a good player-we are all proud of her.
But why are we screaming from top of our voices on her broken engagement??
It her decision.
Because we are addicted to celebrity.