HYDERABAD: Tennis star Sania Mirza on Friday denied favouring pre-marital sex and alleged that media had misquoted her over the issue.

Claiming that she was totally against pre-marital sex, Sania said she was pained at the maligning of her image by misquoting her. She said a non-issue has been turned into a serious controversy by misquoting her.

TOKYO, Oct 3 (AFP): India’s Sania Mirza struggled while Venus Williams barely worked up a sweat, but both women booked their spots Wednesday in the quarter-finals of the Japan Open.

The second-seeded Mirza had to fight back from a service break down twice in the final set against Casey Dellacqua of Australia before taking the match 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

Jelena Jankovic, Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams will spearhead a new World Team Challenge in Hong Kong next year as part of their warm-up for the Australian Open.

The January 7-10 tournament will feature four teams representing Europe, Russia, the Americas and Asia-Pacific.

PUNE: The rain god gave a scare but then decided to be kind and stayed away for the rest of the night as Pune accepted the favour with open arms
. The third Commonwealth Youth Games got off to a rousing welcome at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports City, Balewadi, on the western outskirts of city, on Sunday evening.