Cornered by rival atte-mpts to force a decision, the All India Tennis Association opted to enter two men’s doubles teams for the London Olympics, and hoped for the best.
Thursday being the last day to send in entries to the Internati-onal Tennis Federation, the AITA nominated Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna as one team, and paired Lean-der Paes with Vishnu Vardhan, ranked 207 in the world, for the quadrennial event.
The AITA hopes Paes doesn’t hold to his threat to pull out if not paired with either Bhupathi or Bopanna. Paes’ father Vece, contacted in Kolkata, said he wasn’t sure of his son’s reaction. “Leander always compromised while playing for the country. I think now he’s tired of doing that... I don’t think Leander will agree with AITA’s decision,” said the former hockey Olym-pian. Paes was also teamed up with Sania Mirza for the mixed doubles, contingent on Sania getting a wild card in the women’s singles.
There is a catch here though, as Sania earlier said she would prefer Bhupathi as an Olympics partner, but would play with whoever the AITA nominated. Given her recent French Open mi-xed doubles title, it gives Paes a good chance of landing a medal in what could be his sixth, and final, Olympics appearance, even though Sania won at Roland Garros partnering Bhupathi.
With Bhupathi and Bopanna firm on only playing with each other and Paes seeking to partner either of them and not a “junior” player, the AITA was in a bind.
AITA president Anil Khanna gave in to pressure by Bhupathi, but recognised the irony of India’s top-ranked doubles player being virtually asked to give up his medal hopes thanks to arm-twisting by Bhupathi and Bopanna.
“This decision is unfair to the India no. 1,” he said here Thursday. “We are confident Leander won’t disappoint us as he has done yeoman’s service to the game,” Khanna said.
What possibly tilted the scales against Paes was his uncharacteristic outburst in a letter Wednes-day in which he said he would go to the Olympics only if paired with Bhupathi or Bopanna, and if he did agree to partner one of the lower-ranked players, the other two should be kept out.
Said Khanna: “The best option was sending two teams. We are aware Leander Paes... had been driven to the wall, and had to react sharply against his true character. “We request Leander to reverse his thoughts, and help Bopanna and Vishnu succeed in their first Olympics.”