India`s Mirza dismisses clothing fatwa after Australian Open exit

GG2.NET NEWS [20/01/2006]

Sania dismisses reports

INDIAN tennis star Sania Mirza dismissed reports conservative Islamists had issued a fatwa criticising her on-court clothing after she crashed out of the Australian Open.

The 19-year-old Muslim said she had no knowledge of the fatwa, or religious ruling, that Islamic cleric Haseeb-ul-hasan Siddiqui reportedly issued last September.

In it he accused her of being a corrupting influence because her on-court attire “leaves nothing to the imagination”.

“I have not heard of it now, so I guess it is over,” Mirza said on Thursday when asked about the fatwa, saying “times have changed” since Nirupama Vaidyanathan became the first professional Indian women`s tennis player in the 1990s.

Mirza, who has previously expressed frustration at the fixation on her Muslim faith, preferred to talk about tennis, rueing missed opportunities in her 6-3, 7-5 second round loss to Michaela Krajicek of the Netherlands.

Mirza said there were a number of factors behind her defeat in a match she believed was eminently winnable, including a misfiring forehand, unexpectedly windy conditions and a lingering knee problem.

“I really did not have the rhythm throughout the match, I saw it coming maybe that I was going to make some errors here and there when it really mattered and that is what happened,” she said.

“It is hard when you are not playing your best tennis and the other girl`s coming from winning a tournament.”

Mirza said she also struggled because she was in the process of changing her serve to give it more power and she lacked match practice in 2006.