Clarification letter: Never demanded any money for attending MP awards ceremony: Sania Mirza

New Delhi: A day after ace Indian tennis star Sania Mirza came under the wrath for not attending Madhya Pradesh awards ceremony, the agency which looks after the star issued a statement saying that she didn’t ask for any money to attend the event.

Sania posted the statement on Twitter which said that she didn’t ask for any money, and her demand for a private jet was valid since she was attending another event in Goa on the same day.

The Indian Express reported on Wednesday that Sania was not present as the chief guest of Madhya Pradesh government’s annual sports awards, due to several unacceptable demands of hers which was refused by the state government.

According to the report, after she had accepted the invitation, her personal assistant made demands of a make-up kit worth Rs 75,000 and a chartered plane.

The report added that if the sports department is to be believed, the demands made on Sania’s behalf included the make-up kit, a chartered plane to ferry her to Bhopal and back and five business class tickets for her assistants.

“We pay for economy class air ticket, accommodation in a star hotel and local transport,’’ a sports department official told the newspaper.

The ceremony had to be pushed back from Saturday to Tuesday, and badminton coach Pullela Gopichand was instead asked to be chief guest.