TNI Bureau: The Indian hopes for a Olympic medal in Lawn Tennis, have taken severe beating, as Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna have revolted against the AITA decision to pair Leander Paes and Bhupathi for the London Olympics.
It’s a known fact that Leander and Bhupathi are not seeing each other for a long time. After the break-up last year, both accused each other of fuelling trouble. Bhupathi had vowed not to pair with Leander again in future.
However, All India Tennis Association decided to dump Bopanna and go ahead with Paes-Bhupathi pair to boost India’s chances at the Men’s Doubles event in London Olympics. Earlier, both Bhupathi and Bopanna said NO to Leander Paes.
Although India can send two entries at the Men’s Doubles event, AITA has decided to send only team. AITA argued that both Paes and Bhupathi are in superb form and have played four Olympics together. They can play for India despite all differences what they did earlier, said AITA.
The AITA also argued that Bhupathi and Leander cannot refuse to play for the country, as they receive $6,000 each per month from the government to be spent on training.
In another development, the AITA is reportedly planning to send Leander Paes and Sania Mirza to the Mixed Doubles event even though Bhupathi and Sania recently won the French Open title with power-packed performance. It seems that the AITA is tilted in favour of Leander Paes and suffers from ego problem.