Sania Mirza wants land, CM not game

Back home after a forgettable season which saw her slide steeply in the WTA rankings, Sania Mirza met chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy on Saturday and requested him to allot land for setting up a tennis academy.

Clearly taken aback by the request, the chief minister assured the player that her request would receive due consideration and advised her to concentrate more on her game.

Sources in the CM's office told TOI that Sania, the biggest beneficiary of the previous government's largesse, assured the CM that 2007 would be eventful as she intends to hire a foreign coach.

The source, however, made it clear that the government was in no mood to consider Sania's request: "She is still very young. Maybe the soaring land prices in the city prompted her to come up with such a request.

The government had already given her more than Rs 1 crore and a 500 square yard site in Jubilee Hills. She is also getting a lot of money through endorsements. What more does she need?"

It was also reliably learnt that Sania's mother Naseema and a former managing director of the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh had approached officials regarding the allotment of land.

The chief minister, who was kept in the dark about these developments, was said to have expressed his displeasure over the turn of events.

"Whenever someone like Sania meets the chief minister, the latter should be well informed about the agenda. This was not the case when Sania met him," the source said.

Perhaps, at a time when top sportspersons like Koneru Humpy and Pentyala Harikrishna are struggling to find sponsors, the government knows that doling out more sops to Sania will only invite severe criticism.