Sania accuses AITA of using her to get Leander Paes for London 2012 Olympic Games
Sania Mirza has recently released her statement in which she has accused the All India Tennis Association (AITA) for not dealing with its tennis players in a professional manner while referring to the selection process for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The statement was made soon after Mirza got selected to be in India’s Olympic team through a wild card entry.
Mirza will not be going to the London 2012 Olympic Games to participate in the singles tennis event but will be making a show of her skills in the doubles event. Mirza has been partnered with the number one player of Indian tennis, Leander Paes.
However, Mirza called her being partnered with the top male Indian player as being used as an incentive for Paes to take part in the London 2012 Olympic Games that will start from July 27.
Mirza expressed herself on the manner of being selected by AITA for the Olympic Games in the following words, “While I feel honoured...to partner Leander Paes, the manner and timing of the announcement wreaks of male chauvinism where a two time Grand Slam
champion, who has been India's number 1 women's tennis player for almost a decade in singles and doubles, is offered as compensation to partner one of the feuding champions purely in order to lure him into accepting to play with a men's player he does not
wish to play with.”
AITA found itself in midst of chaos when the three top ranked male players of Indian tennis entered into a conflict about pairing for the Olympics men’s doubles event. The second and the third top Indian players Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna had both
refused to partner with Paes in the Olympics event. In response to the statements given by these two players, Paes had also given a statement in which he declared that in the event of him being not partnered with either the second best or the third best player
of Indian tennis, he would not be going to the London 2012 Olympic Games at all.
Therefore, AITA had decided to send two male doubles teams, one with Bhupathi and Bopanna as partners while the other with Paes and Vishnu Vardhan, a low ranked player.
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