AITA announces Paes/Vishnu and Bhupathi/Bopanna pair
The All India Tennis Association has recently made an announcement that two teams of men’s doubles tennis will be sent to London 2012 Olympic Games. One duo will be consisting of the top ranked tennis player in India Leander Paes along with a lesser ranked
player Vishnu Vardhan while the second team comprises the second and the third best Indian tennis players, Mahesh Bhupathi with Rohan Bopanna.
The AITA kept pondering on the decision till the very last minute as it was pushed into a corner by the three top ranked players of Indian tennis.
After making the announcement that Paes, who enjoys the number seven position in world rankings, has been paired with a lower ranked player, the AITA admitted to the injustice of the decision to Paes.
The president of AITA Anil Khanna, made the following comments on the matter, “Leander Paes and Vishnu Vardhan (ranked 207) and Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna will be the two teams. We request Leander to reverse to his thoughts and he should help Bopanna
and Vishnu to succeed in their first Olympics. This decision is unfair to India No. 1 (Paes). AITA holds Leander in very high esteem. We are confident that Leander won't disappoint us as he has done yeoman's service to the game.”
As of now, no comment has come from Paes who had stated it clearly that he would be opting out the Indian delegation to the London 2012 Olympic Games in case he is paired with a lower ranked player rather than the second or the third best ones in his country.
On the other hand, Vishnu has issued a statement while talking to NDTV mentioning his happiness for getting the opportunity to play with Paes in the Olympic Games.
The AITA has further added that Paes will be paired with Sania Mirza in the mixed doubles event of the Olympics but this will be only if Sania is able to secure a wild card for the Games. However, this decision is contrary to the wishes of Sania who recently
communicated to CNN-IBN that she would like to be partnered with Bhupathi.
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