Hyderabad, July 14 (PTI) Barely a few days after her engagement, tennis ace Sania Mirza has returned to the courts, but this time in the company of her fiancee Sohrab Mirza.

Sania for the first time turned out for practice at the L B Stadium here yesterday alongwith her childhood friend Sohrab with whom she got engaged on July 10 before departing for US on July 16.

"We have tried to spend as much time as possible. This is where (stadium) I am most of the time, so he (Sohrab Mirza) decided to join me and he is also getting interested in tennis," Sania told reporters last night.

"He can also enjoy watching me practice and enjoy watching me play. He is a lot into other kind of sports but he follows my career whenever I am playing," she added.

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HYDERABAD: The state government will call for fresh bids for the Rs 12,000 crore Hyderabad Metro Rail project on July 16 and the final bidder

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Jet Airways plans to launch daily direct flights from Hyderabad to Dubai from 16 August, its fifth daily service to the emirate from India.

It will operate a Boeing 737-800 aircraft on the route, the carrier says in a statement. It also has twice-daily services to Dubai from Mumbai, and once-daily services from New Delhi and Chennai.

"With the growing popularity of Dubai as a leading business and leisure destination, there has been an increasing demand for enhanced air connectivity to the Gulf emirate from Southern India. We are confident that the new service from Hyderabad will be well appreciated by travellers and will complement our existing services from India," says Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, CEO of Jet Airways.

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Tennis sensation Sania Mirza broke the hearts of her fans on Friday by getting engaged to childhood friend Mohammed Sohrab Mirza in a glittering star-studded function attended by the Who's Who of India.

The engagement ceremony took place in Hotel Taj Krishna in Hyderabad, the city where Sania, 22, and Sohrab, 23, lives.

While Sania looked gorgeous dressed in a Shantanu-Nikhil Mehra-designed Swarovski-studded gold-laced ornate green ghagra choli (reportedly costing a whopping Rs.20 lakh!!) her beau Sohrab looked dapper in a white Armani suit and emarald green tie with a special diamond brooch, which he said was a gift from Sania.

Around 8.30 PM, the couple exchanged their rings (according to the grapevine, the groom-to-be gifted Sania a solitaire diamond ring designed in London and worth approximately Rs.10 lakh), following which they cut a 10-kg cake specially prepared by Bakers Inn.

Two chefs were flown in from Iran to prepare the 70-course sumptuous dinner that comprised of over 10 kinds of biryanis.

The couple also mingled with the 400-odd guests that comprised of family friends and VIPs from the sports fraternity, film industry, socialites and politicians.

Guests spotted at the do included badminton star Pullela Gopichand, Sania's mixed doubles partner Mahesh Bhupathi, upcoming tennis star Rohan Bopanna, tennis administrator Anil Khanna, secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Cricket Association Chamundeswarinath, former Test cricketer Arshad Ayub, Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development D. Purandhareswari, Congress MLA D. Venkateshwara Rao, well-known television artiste Rakshananda Khan, Telugu film star Vishnu Babu, and industrialist G.V.K. Reddy (owner of the GVK Group that has been sponsoring the tennis champ since her childhood).

However, 50-odd police officers and 100 private security guards hired by Sania's family made sure her fans and media were kept at bay.

The elaborate security arrangement that was in place did not come as a surprise however, as days before the engagement took place, the police had to arrest a couple of crazy fans who were reportedly stalking her and had threatened to disrupt the engagement ceremony.

Sania's father Imran Mirza also requested the media not to snoop around for a scoop and to "respect" his daughter's wish of "privacy." "This is a very private event. We request you to respect our privacy. Sania herself has requested that there should not be a wide publicity for the event. It is the most important day in her life and Sania wants to enjoy every moment of it," Imran told the media on the eve of the engagement ceremony.

However, the request fell on deaf ears and Sania had to use the service entrance instead of the normal one to access the hotel on Friday to avoid the bevy of reporters who had crowded there.

Sania and Sohrab will get married after two years as Sohrab, son of an influential city-based businessman Adil Mirza, who owns a chain of bakeries in the city, is currently pursuing his MBA degree in London.

Sohrab's family migrated from Iran several decades ago and lives in Anand Nagar in the heart of the city.

"Sania will continue to play tennis until then," Sania's father Imran Mirza said.

About Sania Mirza

Sania Mirza, who began playing tennis at the age of six and turned professional in 2003, holds the distinction of being the first Indian woman to be seeded in a Grand Slam tennis tournament and is the highest ranked female tennis player ever from India, with a career high ranking of 27 in singles and 18 in doubles.

In 2004, she finished runner-up at the Asian Tennis Championship and 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 2005, Sania also became the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament at the 2005 US Open, defeating Mashona Washington, Maria Elena Camerin and Marion Bartoli in the process.

At the 2006 Doha Asian Games, Sania won the silver in the women's singles category and the gold in the mixed doubles partnering Leander Paes. She was also part of the Indian women's team that won the silver in the team event.

Sania also became the first Indian woman to win any grand slam event when, with Mahesh Bhupathi, she won the Mixed Doubles event at the 2009 Australian Open.

Despite being plagued by a slew of wrist and shoulder injuries, Sania continued to dominate women's tennis circuit and notched up memorable wins against Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Martina Hingis.

In 2006, Mirza was awarded a Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honor for her contribution to tennis.

Before her engagement to Sohrab, the tennis star has been romantically linked several times in the past by the media to Bollywood star Shahid Kapoor, Telegu actor Navadip Palaplu, Russian tennis star Marat Safin and upcoming Indian tennis player Mustafa Ghouse.

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