Sports India

India’s controversial rising star Sania Mirza became Tuesday the first seed to be knocked out of the 225,000-dollar WTA Wismilak tennis tournament on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

Eighth-seeded Mirza, 18, lost her first-round singles match 6-3, 6-2 in just 57 minutes to unseeded Russian Ekaterina Bychkova.

“Everyone has bad days and it’s my bad day today,” said Mirza, who reached the fourth round of the US Open earlier this month.

“I wasn’t really in it. I was not in my rhythm,” she said, praising the play of her opponent and unable to explain the loss except to say she was rushing too much.

Sania mania gripped India when she reached the third round of the Australian Open in January, won the WTA Hyderabad Open in February and beat reigning US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in Dubai in March.

For her defeat Tuesday she wore a short skirt similar to those for which Muslim clerics in India have criticized her. They have accused Mirza, herself a Muslim, of playing “half-naked” and being a corrupting influence on women.

Although knocked out of singles play in Bali, Mirza is to play in a doubles match on Wednesday.

Indian tennis sensation Sania Mirza will receive extra security after an Islamic group opposed to her on-court dress threatened to stop her from playing in next week’s WTA event, police said on Friday.

Muslim clergymen have denounced the 18-year-old player for wearing skimpy skirts and colourful sleeveless tops on court, which they say are un-Islamic.

The teenager has emerged as one of India’s most visible sporting icons following a sensational year in which she has climbed to 34 in the WTA world rankings. In a country dominated by cricket, companies are queuing up to sign endorsements with her. Mirza has refused to be drawn on the controversy over her clothes and is scheduled to play in Kolkata beginning on Monday, despite the call by a powerful Islamic group to stop her.

The group, Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Hind, has warned that its members would try to prevent Mirza from playing if she did not wear “proper clothes.” What she wears offends Islam. She will be stopped from playing if she doesn’t adhere to it,” Siddiqullah Chowdhry, the group’s chief, told Reuters. Police are tightening security following the call.