AITA chooses Paes for London Games

The All India Tennis Association(AITA) on Friday picked Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi for the men’s doubles event of the London Olympics, rejecting the latter’s insistence on being paired with Rohan Bopanna in the mega-event next month. The AITA selection committee “unanimously” picked the Paes and Bhupathi after a meeting, leaving out Bopanna from the scheme of things. A nation is allowed two entries for the men’s doubles competition of the London Games but the AITA has decided to send only one team despite the fact that Bhupathi and Bopanna had refused to be considered for selection as individual players or as a team with Paes. “We have taken into consideration the form of Mahesh Bhupathi, who won the French Open mixed doubles and also of Leander Paes’ Australian Open performance. “We thought, these two make the best players to win a medal at the Olympics. That’s why we have decided to field them,” AITA secretary general Anil Khanna said. From gulftoday