At its meeting, the AITA "unanimously" picked Paes and Bhupathi for the men's doubles event, disregarding the latter's insistence on being paired with Rohan Bopanna
NEW DELHI: India's medal aspirations at the London Olympics suffered a jolt on Friday as ace tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi refused to partner Leander Paes at the prestigious doubles event.
At its meeting on Friday, the AITA "unanimously" picked Paes and Bhupathi for the men's doubles event, disregarding the latter's insistence on being paired with Rohan Bopanna. A nation is allowed two entries for the men's doubles competition of Olympics, but AITA, in what appears to be a retaliatory move, has decided to send only one team.
In a released statement, Bhupathi and his current partner on the circuit, Bopanna, declared that they should only be considered as a team, and that they would not play if selected to partner another player.
Responding to the apparent turmoil over selection, AITA secretary-general Anil Khanna said, "We have taken into consideration the form of Mahesh Bhupathi, who won the French Open mixed doubles and also of Leander Paes' Australian Open performance. We thought, these two make the best players to win a medal at the Olympics. That's why we have decided to field them."
Asked why AITA chose Bhupathi and Paes when the former was not interested in playing with the latter, Khanna said it was a decision to be made by committee and not the players.
"They have played four Olympics together. They played for India despite differences so we expect them to bury their differences and play for the nation at London Olympics also. They have $6000 every month from the government (to train). They cannot refuse to play," he added.
Bhupathi and Bopanna had been unambiguous about their stand in their released statement: 'As a team that is entitled to a Direct Acceptance based on ITF criteria, we are saddened to learn of the decision of the AITA Selection Committee to not nominate us for participation in the Men's Doubles Tennis event at the Games of the XXX Olympiad.
As athletes who have committed ourselves to representing the nation, we have worked tirelessly on our pairing, choosing to break winning partnerships, and keep aside personal best interests, to combine forces to represent the nation on sport's most prestigious platform. We have worked together on strengthening our partnership and have proved its benefits. As a result, we have maintained our position as one of the top Men's Doubles teams in the world.
We have repeatedly and consistently communicated to the AITA our desire to only be considered for selection as a team and not as individuals to be paired with any other players. This was on the basis that we are a team legitimately entitled to a Direct Acceptance to the Olympics by virtue of our rankings. It is indeed disappointing that the AITA has chosen to disregard our request.
We believe that ignoring a combination that is fully committed, dedicated and prepared is an unjustifiable compromise. To not send one of the best tennis teams in the world to the Olympics - and to, instead, choose to nominate one that has had four previous unsuccessful attempts - fails to put the interests of the nation first.
Moreover, choosing to send only one team when India was entitled to two denies two highly accomplished players of the privilege and opportunity to represent the country at the Olympics. This is a sad day for Indian tennis from all perspectives.
We are sure that there have been multiple considerations leading to this decision but are hopeful that better sense will prevail before the ITF's team nomination deadline of June 21, 2012. We will continue to make our case to all concerned over the next few days.
We have no further comments at this time.'
The duo had earlier also communicated their desire to partner each other, and nobody else, in an email to Khanna. The explicitly worded mail made clear their reasons behind their disinclination to team up with another player. AITA's response, while skirting the request of the two pros entirely, demanded instead that Bhupathi and Bopanna give a signed confirmation that "each one of you would be available to play for the country in partnership with any player unconditionally as may be decided by the Selection Committee."
The complete contents of the email can be accessed here
At its meeting on Friday, the AITA "unanimously" picked Paes and Bhupathi for the men's doubles event, disregarding the latter's insistence on being paired with Rohan Bopanna. A nation is allowed two entries for the men's doubles competition of Olympics, but AITA, in what appears to be a retaliatory move, has decided to send only one team.
In a released statement, Bhupathi and his current partner on the circuit, Bopanna, declared that they should only be considered as a team, and that they would not play if selected to partner another player.
Responding to the apparent turmoil over selection, AITA secretary-general Anil Khanna said, "We have taken into consideration the form of Mahesh Bhupathi, who won the French Open mixed doubles and also of Leander Paes' Australian Open performance. We thought, these two make the best players to win a medal at the Olympics. That's why we have decided to field them."
Asked why AITA chose Bhupathi and Paes when the former was not interested in playing with the latter, Khanna said it was a decision to be made by committee and not the players.
"They have played four Olympics together. They played for India despite differences so we expect them to bury their differences and play for the nation at London Olympics also. They have $6000 every month from the government (to train). They cannot refuse to play," he added.
Bhupathi and Bopanna had been unambiguous about their stand in their released statement: 'As a team that is entitled to a Direct Acceptance based on ITF criteria, we are saddened to learn of the decision of the AITA Selection Committee to not nominate us for participation in the Men's Doubles Tennis event at the Games of the XXX Olympiad.
As athletes who have committed ourselves to representing the nation, we have worked tirelessly on our pairing, choosing to break winning partnerships, and keep aside personal best interests, to combine forces to represent the nation on sport's most prestigious platform. We have worked together on strengthening our partnership and have proved its benefits. As a result, we have maintained our position as one of the top Men's Doubles teams in the world.
We have repeatedly and consistently communicated to the AITA our desire to only be considered for selection as a team and not as individuals to be paired with any other players. This was on the basis that we are a team legitimately entitled to a Direct Acceptance to the Olympics by virtue of our rankings. It is indeed disappointing that the AITA has chosen to disregard our request.
We believe that ignoring a combination that is fully committed, dedicated and prepared is an unjustifiable compromise. To not send one of the best tennis teams in the world to the Olympics - and to, instead, choose to nominate one that has had four previous unsuccessful attempts - fails to put the interests of the nation first.
Moreover, choosing to send only one team when India was entitled to two denies two highly accomplished players of the privilege and opportunity to represent the country at the Olympics. This is a sad day for Indian tennis from all perspectives.
We are sure that there have been multiple considerations leading to this decision but are hopeful that better sense will prevail before the ITF's team nomination deadline of June 21, 2012. We will continue to make our case to all concerned over the next few days.
We have no further comments at this time.'
The duo had earlier also communicated their desire to partner each other, and nobody else, in an email to Khanna. The explicitly worded mail made clear their reasons behind their disinclination to team up with another player. AITA's response, while skirting the request of the two pros entirely, demanded instead that Bhupathi and Bopanna give a signed confirmation that "each one of you would be available to play for the country in partnership with any player unconditionally as may be decided by the Selection Committee."
The complete contents of the email can be accessed here
No comments:
Post a Comment