Leander Paes' strongly worded letter to the All India Tennis Association (AITA) yesterday could well have set the cat among the pigeons
According to sources, AITA officials were shocked to learn of Paes’ threat to miss the Olympics if he was forced to partner a lower-ranked player while Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna were teamed up.u00a0
ADVERTISEMENT
“AITA officials never expected Leander to issue such a threat. They thought he would give in to their suggestion (of forming two teams in London). It will be a huge shame if India’s No 1 tennis player was to miss out on the Olympics due to silly infighting. The AITA cannot afford to let this happen,” said a source, suggesting that the association’s final call (to be made today), will be in favour of Paes.
“It looks like Leander will partner Vishnu Vardhan as the only Indian men’s doubles team in London while Mahesh and Rohan may be penalised by the AITA,” added the source. u00a0