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Posted on 09/10/2005 1:09:38 PM PDT by Stoat
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Should Sania play in salwar kameez? HindustanTimes.com New Delhi, September 9, 2005 |
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The dress code of 18-year-old Hyderabadi girl has stirred a hornet's nest after a Muslim cleric went public saying it violated the tenets of Islam. According to him Islam does not permit a woman to wear skirts, shorts and sleeveless tops - a dress so commonly associated with tennis. We, here at HindustanTimes.com are flooded with responses from our readers, majority of them defending Sania and her dress code. "Sania, you are doing a good job over there, just ignore all these talks and keep going," says Deepa, a surfer from Chennai. Taking pride in Sania's achievements, George Mathew from Dubai writes, "She is wearing better dress than many of the female tennis players on the court. She is beautiful that is why she is getting more attention than others. For heaven' sake leave her alone and let her continue to do the best in the coming days." Another surfer from the US who preferred anonymity says, "Extremists and associated institutions like this force talents to migrate from India and find safe haven in countries like Unites States." Expressing shock, Nanduri from Werribee, Australia writes, "Sania is an Indian and is Muslim by birth, and not by her own choice. She represents India and not the Muslim group of such self-centred religious leaders. India should ban such leaders from making such rubbish statements." "Sania goes to the field to play the match and not to portray her religion. And one does not become a Muslim by growing beard and by wearing a veil," says Ambrin, another reader from Dubai. Avnish from the US flashes a cogent argument, "Indonesia has 90 per cent population, which is Muslim and most ladies wear skirts above the knees?" But there are other views as well, Javed, from Toronto says, "Why can't a woman wear a long sleeve shirt and sports pants and play tennis if men can do it? Nadal wears pants that go below his knee. Why can't Sania wear pants that go all the way to her ankles?" he argues. Taking a broader perspective on the subject Badri Raina from New Delhi says, "The very fact that Sania is out there playing suggests that she has the correct perspective on history; from the time of the first organised human societies, residual notions have sought to make targets of select individuals and events to attempt continued survival in the face of the knowledge that they are on the way out." "Sania is likely to prove to be an icon that hastens the demise of such attempts. History may often zigzag; it never quite recedes to the Dark Age. So, carry on, Sania; you may be fated to cause momentous and needed transformations where more organised endeavours succeed far too slowly. The intelligence of the future fights on your side," he adds with a word of encouragement. Questioning the very rights of clerics, Raksha from Chicago raises her voice, "Doesn't Islamic scholarship have issues like violence, suicide bombing of innocents, poverty, injustice that they are preoccupied about short or long clothes of a girl who brings athletic credit and glory to India and the Muslims." "This is ridiculous. Now an aspiring sportsperson will need to play tennis (or any other game) in burqa (veil)," asks Raghav from Edison, USA. Incensed over the statement, Jude from Toronto adds, "These clerics should go to Dubai and check how the local Muslim girls dress there and see what they do besides dressing skimpy. Sania is a darling with a good upbringing and a player with good habits and good values. So, please just let her play tennis and make India proud." |
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ProfileBirth Date: 15 Nov 1986
Birth Place: Mumbai, India
Residence: Hydrabad, India
Nationality: INDIA
Height: 5'7 1/2" (1.53m)
Weight: 130 lbs. (59kg)
Plays: Right Handed (Double Handed Backhand)
Favourite Surface: Hard
Coach: C.G.K. Bhupathi
Age Began Tennis: 6
Personal Interests: Swimming, Music
Other Information: Ambition in tennis: To be in the Top 20 of the World.
Favourite player: Steffi Graf
Sania Mirza (born November 15, 1986, Mumbai, India resides in Hyderabad, India) is a professional female tennis player from India. Coached by her father, Imran Mirza, Sania began playing tennis at age six. She turned professional in 2003. She became the first and only Indian woman to reach the 4th round of a Grand Slam tournament at the 2005 US Open. She is now the highest ranked female tennis player ever from India (She had a rank of 42, her highest ever, by end of August 2005). Her original goal was to enter the top 100 by the end of 2005, but she revised it to entering the top 50 after good performances at the beginning of the year. (She may have also been helped by the fact that she has very few points to defend for this year and thus, it has been an upward journey in rankings.) As of July 2005, she ranked 5th among Asian women. Her year-end rank in 2004 was 206.
"My mother took me to a coach, who initially refused to coach me because I was too small," said Mirza. "After a month, he called my parents to say he'd never seen a player that good at such a young age." [From WTATour interview] She is 5 ft. 7 in. tall.
She has earned a large fan following in India as she is one of the very few young women from the country to have done well at the highest levels of sport. In 2005, she was awarded the Arjuna award in tennis for the year 2004. She has defeated two top 10 players, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova. She is a devout Muslim, who began playing tennis at the age of six.
Sania won the Wimbledon Championships Girls' Doubles title in 2003, teaming up with Alisa Kleybanova of Russia. She got a wild card entry to the 2005 Australian Open and created history by becoming the first Indian woman to enter the third round of a Grand Slam tournament. She lost in the 3rd round to eventual champion Serena Williams. On February 12, 2005, she became the first Indian woman to win a WTA singles title defeating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine in the Hyderabad Open Finals.
In her Wimbledon Championships debut, Mirza won her first match at the 2005 event, defeating Akiko Morigami of Japan in three very tight sets, 6-3, 3-6, 8-6. However, she was narrowly defeated in the second round by Svetlana Kuznetsova (a player whom she had defeated earlier in the year for her first top ten victory) 4-6, 7-6, 4-6.
Watching her performance in Acura Classics, legendary Pancho Segura, Ecuador-born American player who roamed the courts in the 1940s and 50s, felt that Sania's hard-hitting game resembles that of Romanian tennis legend Nastase. Segura said that Sania has a natural way of hitting the ball and she hits it hard. These qualities remind him of Ilie Nastase.
- 2005 US Open: reaches 4th round by defeating Marion Bartoli of France in straight sets (7-6(4), 6-4); Voted Best Player of the day on the 3rd day for winning her 2nd round match despite bleeding toes.
- 2005 Forest Hills Women's Tennis Classic, New York: reaches her second WTA final but fails to win
- 2005 Acura Classic: upsets Nadia Petrova in 2nd round but loses in the third round to Akiko Morigami of Japan (2-6,6-4,4-6). By beating the 8th-ranked Petrova, she breaks into top 50 in world rankings for the first time ever.
- 2005 Dubai Tennis Championships: 2nd Round: Upset reigning US Open Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals
- 2005 Hyderabad Open singles: Won the tournament defeating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in the final and became the first Indian woman to capture a WTA singles title.
- 2005 Australian Open singles: 3rd round: Became first Indian woman to reach the 3rd round of a Grand Slam tournament.
- 2004 Hyderabad Open doubles: Won the tournament (partnering with Liezel Huber) to become the youngest Indian to win a WTA or ATP tour title and the first Indian woman to capture a WTA tour title.
- 2003 Junior Wimbledon Championships doubles: Won the tournament (partnering with Alisa Kleybanova) to become the youngest Indian and the first Indian woman to win a junior Grand Slam title.
She couldn't possibly as corrupting as you are, Haseeb, you blind lemming.
Hey Nimrod - Allah already knows what females look like. He created them. Now if you're worried about them corrupting YOU, then don't look - ya dope!
"Taking a broader perspective on the subject Badri Raina from New Delhi says, "The very fact that Sania is out there playing suggests that she has the correct perspective on history; from the time of the first organised human societies, residual notions have sought to make targets of select individuals and events to attempt continued survival in the face of the knowledge that they are on the way out."
"Sania is likely to prove to be an icon that hastens the demise of such attempts. History may often zigzag; it never quite recedes to the Dark Age. So, carry on, Sania; you may be fated to cause momentous and needed transformations where more organised endeavours succeed far too slowly. The intelligence of the future fights on your side," he adds with a word of encouragement.
Hey Badri, smoke some more Hashish and please write in again!
Guy sounds like me after a few too many beers, when I think I can see the entire scope of history in just one FR thread.
But show him a picture of a small boy or a goat, hubba hubba!
Let her live her life without tyranny from people she's never even met, let alone should care about the opinion of.
Slavery can have only limited success in the longterm. Islam will fall when enough people decide to free themselves from its mental shackles.
And if she doesn't abide they'll, what, stone her to death? As if the world's opinion of that religion of pieces isn't low enough.
Yes. The handwriting is on the wall. Conservative Muslims are to be extinct within fifty years. They know it. The problem is that some of them want to die rather than face a future in which they are not in total control of women's lives. The question is, how many of us will they take with them?
I'm feeling really corrupted right now.
(Down boy!)
"Note to self: Must visit Dubai."
LOL!
"...Allah already knows what females look like.."
Since when did a black rock have the ability create a human.
;-)
Thell them muzzies they can stick that fatwah where the sun don't shine.
Sandnazi's! That's a good one!
Muzzy women are doomed at birth to be willing slaves to a cult of death.
Maybe the good imam would be pleased to see her play tennis in a burqa? It would be fun to watch on a hot day.
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