The selection committee of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) did a somersault and brought Shweta Rana in place of Snehadevi Reddy in the six-member women’s team for the Asian Games to be held in Incheon, Korea, from September 19 to October 4.
At the selection committee meeting here on Wednesday, chaired by Anil Dhupar, Shweta Rana’s request letter to reconsider her case, was taken up.
The chairman noted that Snehadevi was originally considered and selected in an attempt to encourage the junior, keeping in mind that she was not ranked as she had started playing on the professional circuit recently.
It was mentioned that in the backdrop of Snehadevi losing in the qualifying event of the Bangalore ITF women's tournament, after having made the semifinals in Delhi, it was decided to give the 21-year-old Shweta a chance.
“'It was decided by the committee to accept Shweta Rana’s request and include her as the sixth player for the Asian Games team and make Snehadevi as reserve. The committee also decided to recommend Snehadevi’s name to the Government for financial assistance as one of the players for the 2019 Asian Games,” said a statement, signed by Anil Dhupar.
Reacting to the reversal of selection, Tamil Nadu Tennis Association vice-president Karthi Chidambaram said it was grossly unfair to the Asian junior champion, Snehadevi Reddy.
“'The fundamental problem is that the chairman of selectors has not played any competitive tennis at the State or national level. You need to have international players in that position. What they have done is complete absurdity,” said Chidambaram.
The meeting was also attended by former player and coach Balram Singh and Davis Cup coach Zeeshan Ali. Former Davis Cup captain S.P. Misra, former Davis Cup coach Nandan Bal and former Fed Cup coach Rohit Rajpal were also consulted over phone before the selection was finalised.
“If they were going by the performance of players in Bangalore, they should have noted that Shweta Rana lost badly to Sai Samhitha,” argued Chidambaram.
