Sania Mirza, the most recognised tennis player of the subcontinent and a heartthrob of millions of youth around the world, is in town.
The 24-year old Indian tennis sensation, who bid an early bye to this year’s Australian Open losing to Justine Henin in the first round wasted little time to fly to Bangladesh in a bid to encourage her husband, the Paskistani cricketer Shoiab Malik who is currently playing for Mohammedan in the Premier League.
And guess what? Lady luck did shine on the struggling all-rounder as he took five wickets for his team in their match against CCS in Bogra to turn the fortunes of his team and himself. The tennis star beamed when informed of her husband’s feat at her arrival at the hotel.
“Yes I’m glad that he took five wickets today. He also played in the league last year in Dubai.” recalled Sania who lives with her husband in Dubai since tying the knot in April last year.
She also commented on Malik’s not getting into the Pakistan squad for the World Cup.
“There are ups and downs in every sports person’s career. It’s just a bad phase and it will go away soon I hope,” she said.
This is not the first time that Sania Mirza has come to Bangladesh. Some ten years ago, a young Sania took part in the ITF under-14 tennis tournament, long before she shot so spectacularly to fame.
“That was a long time ago, I was very young at that time. And that was as a tennis player, but this time it is on a personal visit.”
Dhaka has changed a lot since, lots of traffic on the street,” observed the tennis star.