Happy for Sania Mirza but hurt at not receiving Olympics cash reward from govt: Saina Nehwal

Zee Media Bureau/Dattaraj Thaly New Delhi: After Sania Mirza was appointed brand ambassador by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) government and handed a grant of Rs 1 crore on Wednesday by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, badminton star Saina Nehwal on Thursday expressed disappointment for not receiving her cash award from the state for winning the Bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics. The ace shuttler posted two tweets on the micro-blogging site Twitter stating she was happy at the appointment of Sania Mirza as the brand ambassador of the state, but was hurt at still not receiving her grant from the state for the Olympics triumph.

I am happy to know that sania mirza has become the brand ambassador of telengana and I am proud of telengana but - pic.twitter.com/ANtRzjOoSt

— Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) July 24, 2014

- I am very hurt and sad that I have still not received the cash award from my state for the Olympic bronze medal that I won for my country— Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) July 24, 2014

Reaction from Saina comes at a time when the political world is embroiled in a controversy over Telangana goverment's decision to appoint Sania Mirza as the brand ambassadaor of its newly formed state. Interestingly, both the sportspersons are of equal stature and hail from Hyderabad which is now the joint capital of Seemandhra and Telangana. Prior to the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad was the state capital. The erstwhile Andhra Pradesh government had announced a cash incentive of Rs 50 lakh for Saina after she bagged a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics. Earlier in the day, Telangana BJP leader K Laxman had criticised the decision of the TRS government for Mirza`s appointment as Telangana`s brand ambassador. He termed her as a "daughter-in-law" of Pakistan and even questioned the credentials of the tennis star to receive such an honour. Sania Mirza, who is married to Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik released a statement that read: “I am an Indian and will always remain an Indian. I strongly condemn any attempts by any person to brand me an outsider. Hurts me that so much time is being wasted on a petty issue of my being appointed as brand ambassador of Telangana.” Just when the dust seemed to have settled down on this controversy, Saina Nehwal might have given a new twist to the issue as she has indirectly questioned the state of not recognizing her achievements for the country.