Shoaib Malik, Pakistan's former cricket captain, is to marry Sania Mirza, India's top women's tennis player, in an unprecedented cross-border sporting union between South Asia's nuclear arch-rivals.
The two families confirmed last night that the couple – who are both Muslims – would be married next month after meeting in February while Ms Mirza was playing in a tournament in Dubai.
"Thanks for all your support. And the news of me marrying to Sania is true. Inshallah [God willing] will get married in April," Mr Malik, who captained Pakistan between 2007 and 2009, wrote on Twitter.
Ms Mirza's father, Imran, said that the couple would be based in Dubai, where Mr Malik has residency. Mr Mirza said that his daughter would continue to play tennis after she had recovered from a wrist injury, according to The Hindunewspaper.
"This is a unique case where the husband and wife will represent their respective countries in sport," another Indian newspaper quoted Mr Mirza as saying.
Ms Mirza's mother, Nasima, was quoted as saying: "Marriages are made in heaven. As parents, we are delighted with her choice."
The announcement has caused a stir in India and Pakistan as cross-border marriages – especially unarranged ones – are rare between the South Asian neighbours which have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.
It is all the more sensational as Mr Malik, 28, and Ms Mirza, 23, are among the most popular sporting and youth icons in the two countries, and have both been embroiled in a series of personal and professional controversies.
Ms Mirza – currently ranked 27th in the world – broke off her engagement to Mohammed Sohrab, a childhood friend, in January, and has been criticised in the past for wearing revealing outfits on court, disrespecting the Indian flag, and advocating safe sex.
In 2008, she withdrew from the Bangalore Open tennis tournament, saying she would no longer play in India to avoid generating further controversy.
Mr Malik, meanwhile, has been involved in a long-running marriage dispute with another Indian woman, Ayesha Siddiqui, whom he also met in Dubai.
Ms Siddiqui, who was working in the Gulf state as a teacher, has said that she met Mr Malik in a hotel there in 2000 when he returned the keys she had accidentally left in a restaurant.
Reports that they had married started circulating when her family, who are from the Indian city of Hyderabad, hosted a lavish reception for the Pakistan team when it toured India in 2005.
In 2008, however, Mr Malik said he had split with Ms Siddiqui because their families could not agree on the terms of their marriage.
Her father, Mohammad Ahmed Siddiqui, then announced that Mr Malik had married his daughter in 2002 over the telephone, because she could not get a Pakistani visa.
Although the groom had been in Pakistan and the bride in India, he said that the ceremony had been conducted by an Islamic cleric in front of several witnesses and therefore complied with Sharia.
"Shoaib Malik is rejecting my daughter Ayesha as she has become fat," Mr Siddiqui said at the time, threatending legal action. He was not immediately available for comment this morning.
Mr Malik is also facing controversy on the sporting front, as he has been banned for one year by the Pakistan Cricket Board for poor performance and indiscipline during Pakistan's recent tour of Australia.
He has appealed against the ban.
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