“Leander Paes-Sania Mirza will lift gold at London Olympics,” says SP Misra – Tennis News
Captain of Indian Davis Cup squad, SP Misra, has cited that the combination of top Indian doubles player, Leander Paes, and the beauty queen, Sania Mirza, will bring home the mixed-doubles gold medal from the London Olympics this year. He is very optimistic about the Indian tandem and believes these two players possess all the skills in their arsenal to come out victorious on any platform in the world.
"India have a good chance to win a medal in the mixed doubles. They (Sania and Paes) are not newcomers. They have wealth of experience behind them," Misra told PTI. "Paes has won 13 Grand Slam titles and Sania has been playing doubles for so long. So I don't see a problem in that."
The ITA (Indian Tennis Association) has dealt with multiple controversies in sending the tennis squad to London and after both Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna declined to partner Paes in the men’s doubles event, the superiors have forced Sania Mirza to for a mixed-doubles duo with the India’s top tennis player at the Olympic Games. Paes and Sania had parted ways after their 2010 Commonwealth Games campaign and have never played together since then. Sania was also not happy to be sacrificed by ITA in an attempt to make Paes a bit happy. The top ranked Indian male star was not pleased to team up with his current doubles partner, Vishnu Vardhan, and demanded Sania to be hir partner in the mixed-doubles event.
Although Sania might not be happy to be forced to play with Paes, her aim to bring gold to India resides above all. She will play a vital role in assisting Paes to Olympic glory and Misra has greatly praised her game play.
"Sania has solid ground strokes. I feel she should play from the ad court. Sania returns well also, so she should support Leander from that side. Leander has always played from the deuce court and that is his strength," he explained.
The mega event begins from 28th of July and the combination of Paes-Sania will give its best shot to bag the gold medal at the most coveted of all sports events.
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