Former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik is set to marry Indian tennis star Sania Mirza, a union of two of South Asia’s best known sports personalities.
The marriage is sure to attract attention because Pakistan and India are longtime rivals, and have fought three wars since 1947.
“The news of me marrying to Sania is true,” Malik posted on Twitter yesterday. “Inshallah [God willing] will get married in April.”
PHOTO: AFP
The Pakistan Cricket Board has fined and banned Malik for one year for unspecified disciplinary reasons following heavy defeats in both Test and limited-overs series against Australia earlier this year.
The 23-year-old Mirza ended a previous engagement to childhood friend Sohrab Mirza in January, citing incompatibility.
She issued a statement yesterday confirming she and Malik planned to marry, but asked for privacy.
Her father, Imran Mirza, said both Sania and Malik will be based in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, but will continue to represent their countries in their respective sports.
Malik said he supported Mirza’s ambition of playing professionally.
“I fully understand what it takes to be an international sports person and I will support Sania in her career as long as she wishes to play,” he was quoted as saying.
Mirza became the first Indian woman to crack the top 40 in the international tennis rankings, reaching a career high of No. 27 in 2007.
Malik, 28, was at the center of a marriage controversy five years ago when he reportedly broke an engagement with Ayesha Siddiqui, who was from Mirza’s hometown in India.
The two had reportedly developed friendship on the Internet and Siddiqui’s father had even threatened to take Malik to court.
Malik has denied any serious relationship with Siddique.
Newspapers reported that Malik first met Mirza in Hobart, Australia, in January, when the Pakistan squad was on tour and Mirza was in the city for a tennis tournament.
“It was after this meeting that Mirza’s engagement with his childhood friend broke,” the Daily Jang newspaper reported.
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