Indian tennis star Sania Mirza is going to marry Pakistan's former cricket captain Shoaib Malik. The couple met in February, during Mirza’s participation in the Dubai tournament, and the marriage will take place next month.

"Thanks for all your support. And the news of me marrying to Sania is true. Inshallah (god willing) will get married in April," said the 28-year-old Malik on social networking website Twitter.

According to the father of the Indian tennis and youth icon who was the first Indian to win a WTA Tour event in 2005, the couple will be based in Dubai, as Malik has a residence there.

News about Mirza’s new love surprised me a bit, as she called off her engagement to childhood friend Sohrab Mirza only in January this year. India and Pakistan are also stunned by the announcement of this marriage, because the two countries are not having the best of relations and have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.

I would like to thank our faithful reader Karunya for keeping us updated on the latest developments in Sania Mirza’s life. (source: Times Online)

Our loyal reader Karunya reminded us that we had failed to report that 23-year-old Sania Mirza called off her engagement to childhood friend Sohrab Mirza in January. The reason for their separation is stated to be incompatibility, agreed by both Sania and Sohrab.

Sania Mirza and Sohrab Mirza got engaged July 10, 2009 in a lavish ceremony. Their families, friends for half a century, will retain good relations. (via BBC)

Elena Dementieva, Maria Kirilenko, Sania Mirza and Zheng Jie took part in an annual exhibition tournament the Glam Slam – Showdown of Champions in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Our friend HCFoo attended the meet-the-fans session held on Friday and followed the rest of the event at home.

Dementieva and Kirilenko defeated Mirza and Zheng 3-0. The Russians won in doubles on Saturday 6-4 5-7 10-8. Then on Sunday, Kirilenko beat Zheng 6-3 4-6 6-4, and Dementieva completed Russian domination by downing Mirza 6-4 7-6 (7-0).

HCFoo's overall impression is that the Glam Slam – Showdown of Champions wasn't actually glamorous and that the organization should have been much better. In addition, the attendance was bad and there was lack of publicity. Still, the matches were worth watching, as the players took them seriously and fought hard.

Elena Dementieva left a lovely impression on HCFoo:

I've never met a player so friendly… she would look deep in your eyes, greet you and give you a big smile! *faint*

Kuala Lumpur, Malasya, will welcome Russians Elena Dementieva and Maria Kirilenko, Indian Sania Mirza and Chinese Zheng Jie at the Showdown of Champions 2009, an exhibition event set to take place December 18-19.

The exhibition is a nice intro to the Malasya Classic, a new International-level tournament added to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour calendar to be hosted by Kuala Lumpur in February 2010. (source: HCFoo's Tennis Blog, photos: chascow, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, Ralf Reinecke)

Despite all the drama, Indian tennis star Sania Mirza, 23, got engaged to childhood friend Mohammed Sohrab Mirza at the Hotel Taj Krishna in the city of Hyderabad on Friday.

Even though media were very excited about the engagement, they were not welcome at the private event, and only this one photo is available.

Sania was looking amazing, dressed in a dazzling Shantanu & Nikhil Swarovski-studded ghagra bought by the groom's family.

In front of close to 300 guests, the lavish celebration began with a ceremonial exchange of rings. The 23-year-old Sohrab broke hearts of millions of men and put a $205,000 diamond ring on Sania’s finger. He also offered jewelry to her family to express his affection.

According to Sania’s family the couple will not tie the knot soon, as the tennis star is planning to continue focusing on her career. (source: HCFoo's Tennis Blog)