Playing down badminton legend Prakash Padukone's comments that her achievements were greater than tennis star Sania Mirza's, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal on Friday said both were doing well in their respective fields.

Padukone had rated the achievements of Saina higher than those of Sania because the former had beaten higher ranked rivals more often.

"That Prakash sir's statement. I can say that both of us are doing well," said Saina, who met Telugu Desam Chief N Chandrababu Naidu here, when asked for her reaction to Padukone's statement.

On her meeting with Naidu following her sensational victory in the Indonesian Open Super Series last month, she said the TDP chief asked her to focus on winning more tournaments.

"It's nice to meet someone like him who encourages sports. He told me that I should focus on winning more tournaments," she told reporters after the meeting.

Naidu also promised help to her in furthering her career.

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Borrowed Dress proves lucky for Sania

LONDON — India's Sania Mirza faces a triple challenge to reach the third round at Wimbledon: knock out a seed, beat one of her best mates -- and make sure she's got enough clothes.

Mirza faces Romanian number 28 seed Sorana Cirstea in the second round -- just as soon as the pair work out whose kit is whose.

French Open quarter-finalist Cirstea had to sort out her friend with some spare clothes before Mirza beat Germany's Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.

"We are really good friends. We're one of those very few who actually stay in touch even when we're not on the tour," Mirza told AFP.

"We were joking about it just before. I didn't have any clothes and said 'can you please give me some clothes to wear'.

"She said 'yes, I'll give it to you'. And I said 'yes, but if you win and I win, I play you, I'll need clothes as well!'. And she said 'I'll still give it to you!'.

Thankfully the pair have now sorted out enough outfits to see them both through Wednesday's encounter.

"We both have enough kit now. I don't need to borrow stuff from her now!" world number 85 Mirza said.

But joking aside, there will be no love lost when the pair clash on court.

"We're both going to try our best, obviously. You have to make a conscious effort to put a line because you are friends," the 22-year-old said, looking forward to the match.

"When you go on court you are just rivals and opponents and when you go off court you're friends again.

"But we're both professionals and we know where to draw the line. May the best player win."

Though the pair are firm friends, they have never faced each other in a competitive match.

Mirza did not have the chance to check out Cirstea's first round match as they were playing simultaneously on adjacent courts.

"We've never played against each other and we've practiced just once or twice together so it's not like we know each other's game inside out," Mirza said.

"I watched her play at the French Open and she has been in great form.

"She's seeded. I have to play a seed in the second round so I guess I have no pressure on myself. I'm just trying to play my best. On paper, she's supposed to win. But this is tennis and anything can happen."

Mirza entered the All England Club having reached the semi-finals at Birmingham, the pre-Wimbledon warm-up grass court tournament, and is confident about her form on the surface.

"It's been going good. I've always liked playing on grass. It is one of my favourite surfaces and it suits my game," she said after beating Groenefeld, a one-time top 15 player ranked 23 places above her.

"On grass especially, if you lose your serve then it goes off quickly sometimes.

"I've tried to work on my serve a lot in the last few weeks and I feel like it's getting better every match that I play.

"At 5-2, deuce, to get an ace at that point is probably something I couldn't have done a year or two ago."

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STAR PLAYER: Saina Nehwal holds the Tricolour after beating Wang Lin during in Indonesia Open final.

 

New Delhi: Her talent was never in question, but now Saina Nehwal has broken another invisible barrier. Saina on Sunday won the prestigious Indonesian Super Series title and with her best years ahead of her, she is slowly coming into her own.

The young badminton player has had to play bridesmaid on a few occasions in world badminton but not anymore.

The Super Series is right up there in top flight badminton and Saina is the first Indian woman to claim the title.

"I am really happy. I can't believe it. I think I won't be able to sleep tonight. It is a very good achievement and I am really proud of myself," Saina said after her win on Sunday.

The gains of 2009 seemed to have been frittered away by an injury with first round losses in Korea, the prestigious All England and at the Asian Championships.

But in between there were signs that she was still in the hunt.

The win in Indonesia is the crowning glory with Saina beating two top Chinese women enroute to the title.

"In the last 21 days you must have seen that Saina reached the quarter-finals and semi-finals of some tournament. But she also lost in the first round in a few tournaments. But now she has achieved her dream and it is a proud day for India," Saina's father Harvir Nehwal said.

Saina's win puts her at par with two of Indian badminton's biggest names. Not only did Prakash Padukone win the All England Championship, his feats have remained unscaled. Another All England champion Pullela Gopichand is currently India's national coach.

"If you look at this tournament in terms of quality of tournament, it is as good as it can get. You will probably have the same line-up for any championships or the All England or of those tournaments," said Gopichand.

Pundits credit Saina's success to her never-say-die spirit. Many of her wins have come in tough three-setters. Now there is a world championship at home in Hyderabad in August to take another giant stride forward.

(With inputs from Preeti Singh and Digvijay Singh Deo)

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G.S. RADHAKRISHNA

Hyderabad, June 13: Sania Mirza’s engagement was an eyewash — she is already married and is a mother of two.

If you believe the Andhra Pradesh government’s civil supplies department, that is.

According to a ration card issued by the department, the Hyderabadi tennis star is married to one Lakshmi Narayana from Vepadu town in Vizianagaram, near Visakhapatnam. The couple have two children and their family business is trading.

The saving grace for Sania is that although it’s her photo on the card, the name is given as Prasanna Lakshmi.

The state civil supplies minister, Jupally Krishna Rao, brought this to the notice of chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy during a review of the public distribution system at the secretariat this morning.

Sania’s family was not amused. Imran Mirza said his daughter, who is playing in England and appears to have struck form in the run-up to Wimbledon, should not be distracted with such “silly things”.

The minister told reporters that the state’s population, calculated from ration card data, would be 9.8 crore although the actual figure was 8.5 crore.

The state issues “white” ration cards to below-poverty-line (BPL) families and “pink” cards to the rest. The bogus cards are mostly white cards, which bring the benefits of Rs 2-a-kg rice, the Indiramma scheme for subsidised housing, and the Aarogyasree healthcare and insurance scheme.

Minister Rao said nearly 1.8 crore white ration cards were in existence, showing a BPL population of 6.7 crore whereas the actual number of BPL people in the state was less than 4 crore.

The state government spends about Rs 3,500 crore annually on the Rs 2-a-kg rice scheme (which provides for 25kg per family of five), Rs 1,325 crore on the Aarogyasree scheme and Rs 5,000 crore on the Indiramma scheme.

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