Faced with a revolt in the ranks, a beleaguered All India Tennis Association (AITA) has come up with a formula that smacks of an-attempt-to-please-all compromise. Two men’s doubles tennis teams will be sent for the Olympics, one of which will comprise Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna as they wanted — or more accurately, demanded. While Leander Paes has been paired with a lowly-ranked player, he has been thrown the sop of playing mixed doubles with Sania Mirza in the event she secures a wild card. The decision makes no tennis sense — something that the almost apologetic AITA president Anil Khanna has virtually conceded. If the decision to pair Paes, the country’s top-ranked men’s doubles player with a player ranked ranked 207 is “unfair” as Mr. Khanna admitted, why did AITA make it? Aren’t sporting bodies supposed to take fair decisions in the best interests of the sport rather than buckle under pressure? As for the Paes-Mirza pairing, it is simply illogical given that it was the Bhupathi-Mirza combination that just won the French Open earlier this month.
If AITA has displayed a lack of spine, our tennis players have exhibited a shocking self-centeredness. Even though Mr. Khanna described pairing Bhupathi with Bopanna as “not the best on tennis grounds,” the two have been playing with each other and have reason to believe they make a good team. But by declaring that they will not partner Paes, the two have laid themselves open to the charge that they have put themselves above the nation. In any team sport where players represent the country, the choice of who plays with whom is determined by the appropriate agency (captain, coach, organisation) and not the players themselves. Although playing effective doubles tennis requires a lot of coordination and personal chemistry, in principle the threat held out by Bhupathi and Bopanna is as inexcusable as, say, a member of a relay team declaring he or she will not run with another athlete. Regrettably, after saying he was willing to pair with Bhupathi or Bopanna, Paes joined the chorus of intimidation by threatening to pull out of the Olympics if partnered with a junior player — something he may well do. Nobody has emerged well out of this controversy — not even Sports Minister Ajay Maken who, despite his stated reluctance to interfere with team selection, made it more than clear he was for sending two men’s doubles teams to the Olympics. The controversy, of course, was never about sending one team or two. It was about sending the finest pair to represent the country. In the end, a clash of egos has resulted in the enormous irony of AITA drawing up three teams that it believes are not the best combinations.
Keywords: London Olympics, Indian tennis players, All India Tennis Association, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna
Nation's pride for lee-hesh-rohan is nonsense. All three patriots dumped the Asian Games to play in London Masters in 2010. Lee holds AITA to ransom like what Amritrajs did earlier. He does not want to play with mahesh-Rohan to prepare for olympics, but says will choose his own partner. If the likes of Khannas( the father and son do who hold to AITA)who have won several grand slams, are in charge of Tennis, then Lee will play even in a wheel chair and create a record for no. of olympic appearances. lee also wants only sania, though Hesh-sania pair has been playing together for this olympic moment.
It's just a rubish to all..What is this ??? after all when ever you are playing for your country and its the matter of pride for your nation, all these personal matters should be left out.In these rush hours play together to bring the glory for our country...
My burnig question is how can khanna look at anyone with a straight face if Bhupathi-Sania win the mixed doubles at Wimbledon just a fortnight before the London Olympics?
How come a player dictate terms with the Board regarding representing
his country? It is like holding the country to ransom. The Board must
act, without being subdued by the stature of the players. It may be
noted that this incident will haunt the Indian tennis in days to come.
The juniors are also following the story. Sporting spirit must be above
politics because it is the only powerful medium that make us feel to be
one as a Nation.
The very fact that Paes is not the choice of three different players i.e Mahesh,Rohan & Sania makes it abundantly clear that there is something wrong with him. Unlike Relay team a tennis doubles match is dependent on co-ordination between the two players from 1st point till the last point.In the absence of mutual trust & respect proper co-ordination is not possible.So teh best chance of India winning a medal was with the teams that have mutual trust & respect & willingness to paly with each other. In that sense Mahesh- Rohan & Mahesh - Sania are teh best bet. The problem got aggravated because AITA did not take remedial steps in time which was when Mahesh & Paes were splitting in Dec. 2011 & then spineless act of surrendering before Paes's ego.Even at this stage the right decision is to have Mahesh & Sania for mixed doubles as they are the best bet for a medal in mixed doubles but will AITA muster up teh courage to take the right decision?
Really its a wrong signal by the Bhupati and Bopanna to refuse the Peas just on the basis of there personal manner. ATA should take some strict displinory action against the both so that in future no player will interfere in the matter of country's best decision to be taken.In my concern Peas-Bhupati may be prove the best pair as they alredy perform very well and won the grand slam. Context of Sania is also little bit wrong as she won the french open recently with the Bhupati and now she will pair up with the Peas just for consolation to Peas. Now its time to take decision for handling the sport potantial in India. No one is above the Nation and it should be understand by the Bhupati and Bopanna. If they have such a huge confidence to win a gold medal then just wait and watch and wish them a good luck.
The AITA made the first mistake of deciding to send one team. Further, it can be observed that AITA is pro paes. No point in asking Mahesh/Bopnnna to pair with paes when they have not played together for a long time. Also Paes has not played with any Indian partner for a long long time - he has always tried to choose a foreign partner. Instead of blaming Mahesh/Bopanna, it is Paes who is to be blamed for not pairing with any Indian for such a long time. How can he expect to choose a partner when he has not palyed with the person for so long. Even AITA should have considered this. AITA's formula of pairing Sania with Paes is going to be another blunder ( Mahesh/Sania won this years french open). However who is bother about the Nation?
Mani KVS
It will not happen in anyother country, involving tennis.
when elite teams and champions around the world are readily obliging to represent their country for its pride, why relatively lowly ranked players from our country are creating this fuss?
All this trouble has been brewing over the last one year, but AITA did not take any steps to bring the players around and to destress them from their mental blocks and soothe their egos. Begging, pleading, cajoling, making the press to fight their battle, a sense of shame and agony engulfed the nation over the last one week.
Surprisingly AITA did not seek the services of Senior Pros like Vijay, Ramesh to intervene and talk to the youngsters and bring them around.
There is no answer as to why mahesh/bop refuse to pair with Paes?
No one is willing to talk about it. Press is only harping on the periphery including our paper.
Doubles tennis cannot be compared to a team sport like cricket and the parallels drawn above show a complete lack of understanding of the game. Mahesh and Bopanna are the highest ranked doubles pairing in India. Inspite of being an Olympic year Paes for personal gain choose not to pair up with Mahesh, instead chose a foreign player to maintain his top 10 individual ranking. His demand now to be paired up with Mahesh or Bopana shows complete lack of integrity. To believe that sport bodies in India are neutral and think only of putting the best team forward is an absolute fallacy. Fully support the stand of Mahesh and Bopana... Good luck guys
With the Paes Bhoopathy pair having a fair chance to win the Doubles in the Olympics,Bhopathy could have buried all his reservations fathoms deep, in the interest of the country and proved himself a true nationalist. As far as Paes is concerned,he has reasons to be offended to be paired with a very low ranking player because he is not the one who started the controversy and was willing to cooperate in the interest of the nation.
However,pairing Sania with Paes in mixed doubles as a patch up for Paes is really in cheap taste.Finally, no one seems to be looking at the issue in the interest of the nation but only on their personal vibes bordered with unmeasurable ego.
It would only be ideal for India to skip Tennis in the Olympics this time.It would be a real great lesson to all the Indian sportsmen!
One can't play doubles with a partner one is not in talking terms with. Its a shame that people are taking Bhupati to task on this.
+ Relay running is different from doubles tennis. There are only four occasions when relay runners make contact in a 4x400metres. Do you, Mr. Editor, still think that relay running is the same as doubles Tennis?
I don't think Mahesh and Rohan were trying to select themselves or defying federation. As two players who had played together as a pair since January this year, with the sole aim of playing as a team in the Olympics, they were justified in refusing to partner Leander. Especially when we consider the fact that it was Leander who broke off with Mahesh. As Mahesh's father has pointed out repeatedly through past few days, the ranking of 10 for Leander should not be made so great fuss about since Mahesh had been ranked fifth for the past few years. He sacrificed that ranking and more money to partner Rohan, who sacrificed his flourishing partnership with Pakistani Qureshi to team up with Bhupathi for a chance to play in the Olympics. Picking the best doubles team does not mean picking an established pair which is no longer functioning and no longer able to look at each other forget having some chemistry. That chemistry is different from a relay team or a cricket team.
It's sad to see so many people bashing up Mahesh and Bopanna without knowing the details. A tennis doubles team works on co-ordination n communication. How can two players who can't see eye to an eye represent the country at olympics ? Mahesh n Paes have played in four olympics (without winning). Despite the differences, they partnered to raise a team for this olympics as well but things did not work out. If it's true that Paes walked out of the partnership (something agreed upon by Paes's father), Mahesh has every right to reject partnering with Paes. Representing your country is an honor but making someone do it at the cost of his self-respect is cruel. If Paes had some goodwill the situation would have been different. It's fitting that he plays with a lower ranked player or not play if he likes. Pairing Sania with Paes (when Mahesh n sania have won a french open two weeks back) just to compensate n please Paes is in fact a misjudgment.
What would the BCCI do if Virender Sehwag says " Main Dhoni ke sath
nahin Kehlunga". They would say go to hell and pick another one. Thats
what AITA should have done, what ever the medal chances are. Such
behavior should not be tolerated. Medal is not the end result we want.
Respect is!
No one including The Hindu bothers to find out why no one is ready tp play with Leander. It appears that there is something hidden that could be Leander's arrogance. He himself had been paired with legend Ramesh krishan when he was very new to Tennis world. But now he is refusing to play with younger generation. One has responsibility to groom younger and come out of selfishness mentality.
The familiar calling at the start of Tennis is "LOVE ALL". But here
the olympic call for Indian tennis is mixed with full "Hate all"
especially among the top ranking Indian tennis Aces.This has resulted in "Advantage"to other olympic teams.
AITA has set a bad precedent by this decision which means putting players’ preferences before nation. In individual tournaments, players can surely decide on their partners but not when representing nation in a prestigious tournament like Olympics. AITA should have gone with its original decision of sending only one team and banning the players who are not falling in line with the decision. This would surely send a signal to all sportsman that indiscipline is not tolerated.
Agreed that Peas is the best currently, but if it wasn't for his comment of wanting to partner with someone younger ,Bhupati would not have partnered with Bopanna. Just because the comment came much before the olympics does not make it any less unpatriotic. Peas considered only the personal gain aspect then and did not give much thought to the Olympics team.
Also, the relay analogy does not make any sense as the athletes perform based on their running skills and only the baton exchange needs to be co-ordinated.
Every body in this ugly and public washing of dirty linen seems to have
goofed up deliberately. Nobody can justify B&B declaring themselves
as the divine partner and selecting themselves. This pressure and ploy
tactics resorted by them have made entire Indian tennis a laughing
stock. And talking of paes, I just wonder how he responded against an
adamant B&B pair. He knows and so does entire nation that he is the
best ranked doubles player in the nation well ahead of Bopanna and
Bhupati. But by intimidating to withdraw from Olympics and now
displaying his displeasure over he being partner of Vishnu he has done
no good to him. How easily has he forgotten that in 1992 he was taken
by Ramesh Krishnan in Barcelona Olympic as rookie. AITA has done a
mistake by sending these warring players. Medal dream is tennis was
already over. But by choosing not to send these players they could have
set a right precedent that nobody get favour by holding the nation's
pride at ransom.
AITA's mistake is that they made the exercise look like a sarkari appointment of amateurs. Of course, as the number one ranked player, Leander should have been given the first choice of partner. But as a professional, he should know that he gets a partner only if another professional is willing to play with him. If not, he should move on without fuss.
The AITA should have discussed with the top professionals/players and assessed the situation before making any announcement. It seems logical that a team that has played together rather well recently should go as the chosen team. By the way, the analogy with a protesting member of a relay team seems awkward and incorrect. A better analogy might be: fixing a doubles partner is like a marriage. You can force one (as per social ranking and common sense) but will it work?
Sad trend in sports administration; which pair likes to play with confidence is to be determined by the PLAYERS only and NOT by the tennis association; team work is most essential aspect of partnership; allow them to choose and IF you do not like,forget it; to force them is UNFAIR and unacceptable; Hope better sense prevails.
The correct action would have been to ban Mahesh and Rohan from playing for the country- and bringing it to the notice of the International Tennis Federation for disciplinary actions. Also, sending Leander with a lower ranked player would be inevitable - so, since this circumstance was not Leander's creation, he should be given the choice of going or withdrawing. Leander then, for the sake of the nation, not withdrawn. SPORTS BODIES, OR FOR THAT MATTER ANY NATIONAL BODY, SHOULD ALWAYS DO THE RIGHT THING.
Huge match fees have made some tennis and cricket players a law unto themselves. The associations that control these games must bear the responsibility for this state of affairs.
Bhupathi and Bopanna displayed neither discipline nor sportsmanship. They put their personal ego above the national interest. They insulted the greatest Tennis player of this country. The spineless AITA in league with politicians took unfair decision which may result in not winning a medal at all. Really a sad day for Indian Tennis. I hope in spite of all this Paes will pair with Vishnu and play great and memorable Tennis in this Olympics.
i dont see whats so wrong about what bhupathi and bopanna did. they didn't want to play with paes and there is nothing wrong with it. after all tennis is not a team sport and at professional level they are private entities managing their own lives and have the right to say who they want to play with and where they want to do it. bhupathi and paes have played in 4 olympics together and by no means was bhupathi being unpatriotic...its about time people in india stood up to authority and do what is right or atleast stand by their beliefs. the players quite obviously had a problem with paes and made it clear they didnt want to play with him. i think the media and biased people (like the author) should mind their own business and get on with their lives.
though i do sincerely hope the indian contigent does well at the olympics.all the best guys.
The key concern should be to enhance chances of India winning a medal or medals. Yes, the prerogative of choosing the team should be with the selectors but in making a choice they also need take players' chemistry into account. They should have asked - given the present situation which of the possible combination/s is/are likely to perform better at Olympics. Despite Paes illustrious career, it has not been shown how his disfunctional pairing with either Mahesh or Bopanna would be better than that of Mahesh/Bopanna. Given Mahesh/Bopanna have been together for a year, they are likey to perform better. Sending two different teams - although it reduces changes of Paes getting a medal - increases the chances of India getting a medal. Similarly, I would prefer a Sania-Bhupati pair. AITA seems to have ignored these questions when making the original selection. This soap opera could have been avoided. So far, actions of AITA have been geared more towards protecting Paes's interests.
Bhupati and rohan should be banned. You can't treat some one with paes credentials in such a poor manner...
When people( read administrators of Indian sport bodies) lack simple logic this is the end result. A simple algorithm should have been followed:1. Leander Paes gets the first pick according to the rules. Suppose he picks Bhupathi and Bhupathi decides not to partner with him. Give him the second choice. He picks Bopana, and Bopana refuses. Give him the third choice, he picks whoever is on the list. Make the team and send it. Bhupathi and Bopana have exerted their choice and forfeited the opportunity presented to them to represent the country according to the rules. No need to send them as a second team. With this, a message is send to the top players that their egos and inter personal relationship will not be tolerated. Sania Mirza if she is lucky to get a wild card entry should play with Bhupathi as that is the best mixed doubles combination and they play well as a team as showed in their winning the recent French open.
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