New Delhi: The ongoing row in Indian tennis has escalated with Rohan Bopanna officially refusing to play with Leander Paes at the upcoming London Olympics.
While the All India Tennis Association (AITA) declared on Sunday that it had not received any communication from Mahesh Bhupathi on his refusal to play with Paes, the news that Bopanna has issued an official statement refusing to be paired with the veteran tennis player has further ratcheted up the stand-off over which men's doubles pair will represent India at next month's Olympics.
The AITA may be left with no option but to select a youngster such as Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri to team up with Paes.
The AITA had paired Bhupathi with Paes for the men's doubles event despite the former's categorical rejection of the combination.Bhupathi had insisted that he wanted to team up with Bopanna, but the AITA had warned that disciplinary action will be taken against him.
Paes and Bhupathi have played four Olympics together but have never won a medal. Paes won a singles bronze medal at 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
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The 2012 Summer Olympics are planned to take place between 27 July 2012 and 12 August 2012 in London. The London 2012 Olympic bid was announced as the winner of the bidding process on 6 July 2005, following unsuccessful bid attempts for previo ...
Rohan Bopanna is an Indian professional tennis player. His singles career high ranking was 213th in 2007. Recently, most of his appearances in professional tournaments has been in doubles matches. He is a member of the Indian Davis Cup team si ...
Leander Adrian Paes is an Indian professional tennis player who currently features in the doubles events in the ATP tour and the Davis Cup tournament.
He is one of the most successful professional Indian tennis players and also the former cap ...
Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi is a professional tennis player. He is married to Shvetha Jaishankar Bhupathi, an Indian model whom he met at a party.
He turned professional in 1995, and in 2001, he was awarded the Padma Shri. He is among the best ...
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