Shoaib-Sania nikkah solemnized

HYDERABAD: Mirza married Monday after a troubled engagement in a union that bridges the two nations' bitter sporting and political divide.

The wedding was the final chapter in a complex and often contradictory saga during which Malik consistently denied claims by an Indian woman, Ayesha Siddiqui, that she had married the cricketer in 2002.

The ceremony took place in the presence of family and friends at a hotel in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, Mirza's spokeswoman Rucha Naik said.

"The (wedding) has just been completed. Please pray for the couple," Naik told reporters.

The marriage was originally scheduled for April 15. The Press Trust of India cited family sources as saying it had been brought forward after Muslim clerics in Hyderabad criticised the fact that Malik was living in his future bride's house before the wedding.

Last week, Farisa Siddiqui, Ayesha's mother, announced that a settlement had been reached and "divorce papers signed," allowing Malik's marriage with Mirza to go ahead.

Ayesha had initially lodged a complaint with police in Hyderabad, prompting officers to quiz Malik over the saga and confiscate his passport.

Muslim elders in Hyderabad, where both Siddiqui and Mirza live, were understood to have negotiated the settlement after days of frenzied press coverage and lurid speculation.

Even without the added drama provided by Ayesha's revelations, the marriage of two of South Asia's best-known sports personalities across one of the world's most volatile borders was always going to make headlines.

Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence and broke off all official contact following the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which Indian blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

The stand-off extended to the sporting world, with a freeze on non-tournament matches between their respective national cricket teams.

Malik and Mirza's sporting marriage is unprecedented in the perennial rivalry between the south Asian nations, and some right-wing Hindu groups in India had denounced the union, accusing Mirza of betraying her country.

The only similar union came when former Pakistani Test batsman Mohsin Khan, who is now Pakistan's chief selector, married the Indian actress Reena Roy in the 1980s. The couple later separated.

The Pakistani government is preparing lavish celebrations to welcome the couple during a widely expected visit.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will treat the newlyweds to a reception and Pakistan's minister for population welfare, Firdous Ashiq Awan, told AFP that she would travel to India to attend the wedding reception.

"It is a very happy occasion for both Malik and Mirza and for millions of people in both the countries and we are having a detailed discussion as to how we could celebrate the occasion in Pakistan," Awan told AFP.

Team-mates of Malik, a former Pakistan cricket captain who is serving a one-year ban on charges of indiscipline during Pakistan's tour of Australia and New Zealand, also passed on their congratulations.

"It's a happy occasion that Malik has wed Sania. I congratulate him and wish him the best in his married life," said Twenty20 captain Shahid Afridi.

Mirza, whose short tennis skirts have drawn the ire of Islamist groups in India, has been a nationwide celebrity since 2005 when, aged 18, she became the first Indian woman to win a WTA Tour title.

She is currently recovering from a wrist injury that has seen her world ranking slip from 27 in 2007 to 89.

The couple, who are both Muslims, are thought likely to base themselves in Dubai.

Malik had admitted beginning a telephone relationship with Siddiqui in 2001 after she sent him photographs -- but said he later believed the pictures were of another woman.

Before the divorce settlement, Siddiqui appeared on television news channels to denounce Malik as a cheat who dumped her because his team-mates said she was overweight.