Mahesh Bhupathi on Thursday insisted that the recent controversy involving the selection of players for London Olympics would not affect his game during the mega event.
“It won’t affect the game at the Olympics. Wimbledon is over and we are focussing on Olympics. Mentally, we are ready. If we didn’t think our chances were realistic, we wouldn’t be going there. All of us are professionals and we think we have a chance to contend and that is why we are going,” Bhupathi told reporters at a promotional event by Omega Watch, who are official time keepers for the London Olympics.
Bhupathi had only recently, blamed the tennis row, which saw him and his doubles partner Rohan Bopanna refusing to partner India no 1 (in doubles) Leander Paes at the Games, for the duo’s early ouster from the men’s doubles at the Wimbledon championships that ended last Sunday.
“We are hoping India can come up with a few medals in tennis and that is for sure. I am not Nostradamus, but I know we have seven realistic shots (in all disciplines) and hopefully, five or six of us can come through,” he said.
Bhupathi, who is leaving for London on Saturday, said he and partner Bopanna have been preparing for the event since last seven months.
“We are ready to go. As far as the expectation, the hardest win in an athlete’s life is an Olympic medal. We feel we have a shot as good as the rest. We need to play right and have some luck,” said the 38-year old player.
He admitted that the wait for an Olympic medal has been painful and long.
