Bangalore: The All India Tennis Association today picked Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi for the men’s doubles event of the London Olympics, rejecting the latter’s insistence on being paired with Rohan Bopanna in the mega-event next month.
The AITA selection committee “unanimously” picked the Paes and Bhupathi after a meeting here, leaving out Bopanna from the scheme of things.
A nation is allowed two entries for the men’s doubles competition of Olympics but AITA has decided to send only one team despite the fact that Bhupathi and Bopanna had refused to be considered for selection as individual players or as a team with Paes.
Bopanna-Bhupathi are a no go. AFP
“We have taken into consideration the form of Mahesh Bhupathi, who won the French Open mixed doubles and also of Leander Paes’ Australian Open performance. We thought, these two make the best players to win a medal at the Olympics. That’s why we have decided to field them,” AITA Secretary General Anil Khanna said at a press conference.
Asked why AITA chose Bhupathi and Paes when the former was not interested in playing with the latter, Khanna said it is a decision to be made by committee and not the players.
“They have played four Olympics together. They played for India despite differences so we expect them to bury their differences and play for the nation at London Olympics also.
“They have USD 6000 every month from the government (to train). They cannot refuse to play,” he said.
Moments after the press conference, Bhupathi and Bopanna issued a joint statement criticising the AITA decision.
PTI
