The Madhya Pradesh government, which had invited Sania Mirza to be the chief guest for its annual sports awards event, has withdrawn its invitation because of several unacceptable demands made by the tennis player.
Sania Mirza reportedly demanded a make-up kit worth Rs 75,000, a chartered flight and five business class tickets to grace the occasion.
However, these demands were unacceptable for the MP government and it has since replaced Sania with senior badminton coach Pullela Gopichand, who is also an advisor to the state badminton academy.
Sports minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia said she was bewildered after receiving the list of demands from the tennis player.
"I respect her talent and she has undoubtedly made India proud at international platform but her demands were unacceptable," The Times of India quoted the minister as saying, "When I asked her manager that Sania is not a Bollywood star and she was invited to motivate budding players, her reply was that even Sania is a big star today."
With Sania's demands coming in just four days before the scheduled event on Saturday, the authorites were forced to postpone it to Tuesday, 2 December.
I am happy to invite Gopichand. He accepted my request just on a call. His presence has made all of us proud," Scindia added.
