The contents of this article make ridiculous reading. Just last week Sania Mirza, made all of us Indians proud by reaching the fourth round at the US Open here in NYC and giving Maria Sharapova a good run for her money, scorecard notwithstanding.
From all I have read about her, she seems a wonderful girl, a great sportsperson, with a lot of potential and promise. Of course at 18 she is also one of the most pressured teenagers in India. She bears the weight of expectations of a billion people and is soon becoming the Tendulkar of the female species.
In all this, the last thing she needed was some asshole cleric passing judgement on what she wears when she plays. If that cleric had his way, Sania would be strutting around the Arthur Ashe Stadium in a head to toe burkha.
Haseeb-ul-hasan Siddiqui, a leading cleric of the Muslim organisation the Sunni Ulema Board, said: “The dress she wears on the tennis courts not only doesn’t cover large parts of her body but leaves nothing to the imagination.”
Does freedom of speech mean that any cleric worth his salt pass any sort of judgement. Dosent the cleric have better issues to deal with?
True to her style she deflects this controversey with a lot of maturity.
Mirza said on her return from the US: “Every word I speak, every skirt I wear is discussed and analysed. I have to take all this in my stride.
Truly the makings of a great sportswoman.
Tennis star deflects clothing row
Source BBC
Indian tennis star Sania Mirza has refused to be drawn into a controversy over what she wears on court.
The Muslim player had been accused by a leading cleric of wearing “indecent dress” and being a “corrupting influence on young women”.
Mirza said it was “disturbing” that her dress was a subject of controversy but she would take it in her stride.
Mirza, 18 and from Hyderabad, recently became the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of the US Open.
Mirza said on her return from the US: “Every word I speak, every skirt I wear is discussed and analysed. I have to take all this in my stride.
“Wherever I go people look at me. That’s why these days I prefer to stay at home. I have to learn to live with all this.”
She added: “It is quite disturbing that my dress has become the subject of controversy I don’t want to say anything on this”.
‘Not permitted’
Haseeb-ul-hasan Siddiqui, a leading cleric of the Muslim organisation the Sunni Ulema Board, said: “The dress she wears on the tennis courts not only doesn’t cover large parts of her body but leaves nothing to the imagination.”
Mr Siddiqui said Islam did not allow women to wear skirts, shorts and sleeveless tops in public.
“She will undoubtedly be a corrupting influence on these young women, which we want to prevent,” he said.
“The dress she wears on the tennis courts not only doesn’t cover large parts of her body but leaves nothing to the imagination.”
What the hells a cleric doing imagining Sania Mirza’s body anyways?
Gawker u hit the nail on the head.