.png)
Sania Shoaib marriage on rocks over match-fixing allegations
Dubai, UAE. The love-marriage between Indian tennis star
Sania Mirza and Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik is believed to be going
through a rough phase after Shoaib “popped up the question” last night during
family dinner. Shoaib is reported to have asked Sania if her consistent poor
performance on tennis courts was result of any “match-fixing”. The question,
which was rather “innocuous” for Shoaib, has upset Sania no end.
“Yes, they are not talking to each other since last night.
They even slept in different rooms,” informed the couple’s maid Shakeela, who
also works as a part-time nurse in a local hospital and hails from Kerala in
India.
“Bhabhi had come back after playing some tennis match in
China,” recalled Shakeela, referring to Sania’s exit from Guangzhou Open
yesterday, “Then she suddenly left the dinner table. I saw Shoaib bhai running
after her to their bedroom, but Sania bhabhi shut the door on Shoaib bhai’s
face.”
Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik
Shoaib had earlier shown a keen interest in Sania’s on-court
activities after their marriage
It’s not yet known what caused Shoaib to ask the question
“now” even though Sania had been losing matches earlier as well. Experts believe
that the ongoing controversy over Pakistani cricket team continuously fixing
matches in England could have played on his mind.
“Match-fixing is becoming a ‘done thing’ for Pakistani
cricketers it seems. There is no shame in talking about it or indulging in it,”
says cricket psychologist Akhlaq Raza, reserving a word of advice for the
couple, “Shoaib might have asked it in a matter-of-fact way. Sania shouldn’t
have taken it as any insult of insinuation.”
“Furthermore, we all know that match-fixing does happen in
tennis too,” he pointed out.
Neither Shoaib nor Sania could be reached for comments over
the last night’s development, but reactions were pouring in from all other
quarters.
Various women’s rights groups have accused Shoaib of being
an MCP (male chauvinist pig) who was trying to cut his wife down to a size
smaller than his own.
“Shoaib’s career was tainted with allegations of
match-fixing while Sania’s track record was impeccable in this regard. He
clearly felt jealous of this fact!” Arundhati, a rights activist protested and
advised Sania to file a defamation case against her husband. Arundhati
submitted a memorandum to PCB (Pakistan Couples Board) in this regard too.
But PCB has rejected the news and reiterated that the talk
of match-fixing was all made up by Indian media.
