Rohan Bopanna disagrees on playing with Leander Paes at London Olympics – Tennis News
Indian number two player, Rohan Bopanna, has also refused to pair up with the country’s top ranked player, Leander Paes, at the London Olympics.
Previously, Paes’ former partner and former world number one, Mahesh Bhupathi, had announced that he would never play with a back stabber and corrupt person like the former.
A statement was issued by Bopanna on Monday, which said, "With all respect and humility, I have been unable to accept AITA's offer and have communicated my decision to them in writing this morning."
This crisis has hit the Indian Tennis hard and no one is able to find its solution yet. Bopanna and Bhupathi wanted to play together at the London Olympics but All India Tennis Association (AITA) announced that Bhupathi will partner
Paes in the doubles event of the biggest sports event in the world.
Bopanna said that they the very reason of his joining forces with Bhupathi was their intention to play as a team at the Olympics. He said that they had informed AITA about this fact and the governing body encouraged them to do
so.
The Indian said, "Since the beginning of the year, I have partnered with Mahesh Bhupathi towards playing together as at team at the Olympics. This was communicated to the AITA at every step and we were encouraged to continue to
play together."
He added, "Having played alongside Leander Paes only twice during my career, I recognise that as a team we are under-prepared for the demands of the Olympics and, in good faith, I could not accept AITA's offer.”
Although it’s a dream of any athlete to participate at least once in the mega event but here Bopanna and Bhupathi are denying the offer. They are sticking to their stance that they will only play as a combined team at the London
Olympics.
Bopanna said that this decision would not be liked by many but he has made this for his professional integrity. The Indian said that Paes had ditched Bhupathi at the end of last year in a selfish way. Bopanna added that he had
broken his successful partnership with Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi for the sake of his country.
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