In a statement, the agency said that the womens tennis star had a prior commitment to participate in an event in Goa. Due to this, Mirza had sought a jet to transport her from Bhopal to Panaji.

The agency also said that it had never demanded a fee of Rs 5 lakh for the tennnis star to attend the event.

An official had told The Indian Express that an offer was made to pay for economy class tickets and accommodation in a star hotel, which had been deemed acceptable by Gopichand, who took the place of Mirza at the event.

Here is the full statement issued by Sania’s agency:

“As the official Agency, KWAN, managing Miss Sania Mirza’s professional commitments, this is in response to the recent comments made in the media which have been attributed to certain officials from Madhya Pradesh. We wish to clarify our position. We had been directly dealing with the concerned persons in order to facilitate Miss Mirza’s visit for the event in which she was very keen to participate. It was to take place in Bhopal on 28th November 2015 and we are well acquainted with the negotiations that were under way. There was never any demand for an amount of Rs. 5 lakhs on this occasion made by the Agency, as suggested by the media reports. As Miss Mirza was already committed to participate in an event in Goa on 29th November 2015, and since the commercial flights were taking her 7 hours (including the stop-overs) to fly from Bhopal to Goa, it was practically impossible for her to be physically present for both these events unless she was accorded the facility of a private jet for flying from Bhopal to Goa. Hence, the request for a private jet had to be made for just the outgoing flight from Bhopal to ensure that Miss Mirza could honour her commitment in Goa – a commitment that had been made more than a month ago. The practical impossibility of getting a popular celebrity to be present in 2 different corners of the country within a short span of time sometimes has to be tackled in this unusual manner and we are disappointed at the distasteful, damaging comments being floated against Ms Mirza by certain sections. It is particularly distressing for the Agency as well as our client since we were given the impression by the negotiating official from Madhya Pradesh that as it was practically impossible for Miss Mirza to attend the event on the 28th, another date would be mutually decided upon for the same event when our client had more time available.”