Time for Bopanna to come clean on controversy

In the ugly fight pitching Leander Paes on one side and Mahesh Bhupathi-Rohan Bopanna on the other for who gets to represent India at the London Olympics, the stakes are highest for the latter.

Bopanna, who broke off a very successful partnership with Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, before pairing up with Bhupathi to put himself in contention for his first and probably last Olympics, unfortunately finds himself ignored by the All India Tennis Association (AITA).

Worse, his move of rejecting AITA’s offer to team up with Paes (after Bhupathi declined to play with Paes) has backfired big time.

The Paes camp, aggrieved at Bhupathi calling the Kolkatan a ‘backstabber’, publicly spelt out that it was Bopanna who had played a clever game by asking Paes to team up with him for the Olympics and then gone ahead and joined forces with Bhupathi. Paes’ father, Vece, told Times Now last night that if anyone had backstabbed, it was Bopanna.

While Bhupathi admitted that he and Paes were both equally responsible for making their relationship a “laughing stock”, Bopanna too should come clear on why he didn’t inform Bhupathi about his desire to play the Olympics with Paes. And, now when the chance is here, why is he sticking so firmly with Bhupathi?

It will be interesting to hear Bopanna’s side of the story.

In the meantime, as the AITA meets Sports Minister Ajay Maken today after the latter asked the Federation to explain its stand of sending only one team for the Olympics instead of two, will we get a clearer picture today?

Bhupathi has denied any ego issues with Paes but said that someone in the AITA is favouring one party (read Paes) over the other. “It’s happened time and time again. In 2009 Sania and me won Australian Open, I didn’t get the nod to play in the Commonwealth. We won the French open and I am being told I am not the automatic choice for the mixed doubles at the Wimbledon. I am obviously doing something wrong or whatever I am doing is not good enough,” Bhupathi told CNN-IBN.

The AITA may have said that Bhupathi is currently “emotionally disturbed” and that he will come around but the doubles ace is in no such mood. In fact, he is also prepared to face the two-year ban. “I have told them in my communication, after playing for India for 17 years and making as much possible noise  about wanting to play with Rohan. If they still feel the need to ban me so be it,” he added.

So far, the AITA is sticking to its stand of sending only one team, that with the best chance for a medal. And the idea has found support in Paes, who in a letter to the Federation yesterday said it was only fair that he played with the country’s best players and not someone ranked fourth or fifth.

Will the AITA bend? Will they make any changes to their original squad? We’ll get to know by 21 June. Till then what we know is that the bickering will continue.