India’s Asian Games selection row took a fresh and more contentious turn on Tuesday after a Sports Authority of India (SAI) source contradicted the All India Tennis Association’s (AITA) earlier claim , saying the five players excluded from the upcoming Asian Games were never part of the list submitted by the tennis body to the Indian Olympic Association ( IOA ). AITA, however, denied the assertion, maintaining that it had fought for their inclusion.
The position stems from the Sports Ministry’s selection framework for the 2026 Asian Games and other multi-sport events, issued in September last year. Because their recent performances did not indicate sufficient medal probability or potential for effective participation at the Asian Games, the source also argued that their omission was justified. The policy is designed to prioritise athletes and teams with a realistic medal chance rather than participation for exposure and allows the government to reject recommendations from national sports federations when they do not meet the prescribed benchmarks. The government, however, has made it clear that the criteria will not be relaxed despite the criticism.
“They knew the names were not eligible as per the selection criteria and were told that they could not be on the short-list, which was what eventually happened,” he said. The exclusions have been strongly criticised, most notably by tennis great Rohan Bopanna, who said that “a committee that never stood where they stood has decided their fate on paper, before a ball is struck. “Creating discretionary back-channel clearances for tennis players ranked 25th to 40th in Asia would destroy administrative integrity and trigger widespread litigation from other National Sports Federations,” the source said.
Manas Dhamne in men’s singles, Vaishnavi Adkar and Sahaja Yamalapalli in women’s singles, and Vaidehee Chaudhari and Prarthana Thombare in the women’s doubles pool were among those left out after the government applied its multi-sport selection criteria. SAI’s position is blunt: the five players were not part of AITA’s final recommendations. “Their names were not received by Sports Ministry in the final list shared by the IOA. AITA’s argument was that one uniform filter could not be applied across all tennis events. It also flagged India’s strong mixed-doubles prospects, noting that three Indian combinations were among the top eight accepted entries — Rutuja Bhosale/Yuki Bhambri, Ankita Raina/N Sriram Balaji and Prarthana Thombare/Anirudh Chandrasekar — while India was entitled to field two pairs. Accordingly, AITA wanted Ankita Raina and Prarthana Thombare available as doubles specialists. AITA also made a case for Sahaja, India’s highest-ranked women’s singles player, citing her recent deep runs at ITF and WTA events against higher-ranked opponents. It highlighted Vaishnavi’s bronze medal at the FISU World University Games and Vaidehee’s consistency on the international circuit. Ankita was eventually retained, while the other five were not. The omission of four women’s players has left India’s women’s singles challenge particularly thin. Neither will be part of the final squad. Vaidehee, another of India’s leading women’s singles players, is also absent. No shortcuts. No favours. They competed internationally, qualified and proved where they stand,” Bopanna wrote.
A PTI report published earlier said AITA had proposed a 12-member tennis squad for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, describing it as its strongest possible contingent. But when the Sports Ministry released its final sanction order on August 22, approving 492 athletes across 35 disciplines, India’s tennis contingent was reduced to seven. And there is now documentary evidence supporting AITA’s version: a four-page letter dated July 3, accessed by TimesofIndia.com, in which the federation made an urgent representation to IOA CEO Raghuram Iyer and specifically named Dhamne, Yamalapalli, Chaudhari, Adkar and Thombare, along with Ankita Raina. “We tried our best to convince the authorities to send all the selected players, but they are citing the criteria of sending only the top-8 players in Asia. Ankita had previously won a women’s doubles bronze at the 2018 Asian Games and reached the quarter-finals in singles and mixed doubles at Hangzhou 2022. The federation ultimately asked the IOA to review the exclusions on an event-specific basis and approve the six names mentioned in its July 3 representation. Sahaja is India’s current No.1 women’s singles player, while Vaishnavi is No.2 nationally. Bopanna, a two-time Asian Games gold medallist and former world No.1 doubles player, argued that tennis regularly produces results that defy rankings, with qualifiers and lower-ranked players capable of beating seeded opponents at major tournaments. “Five players, including India’s No.1 and No.2 in women’s singles, earned their rankings the hard way.
A SAI source then contradicted AITA’s version, telling PTI that the five players were never part of the final representation submitted to the IOA and therefore could not have been considered for the Asian Games.
AITA has categorically denied that claim, saying it made an “unequivocal representation” to the IOA seeking a review of their exclusion. In fact their names were not there in the long list sent by the All India Tennis Association (AITA),” an SAI source told PTI. AITA said it had made an “unequivocal representation” to IOA CEO Raghuram Iyer seeking a review of the five players’ exclusion. “AITA stated that the matter was not merely about individual athletes but about ensuring that India fields its strongest possible tennis contingent,” AITA secretary general Sunder Iyer said in a statement. “Any suggestion that the AITA did not provide names or did not seek the inclusion of its selected players is factually incorrect and contradicts the Association’s written representation to the IOA dated July 3, 2026,” it added. Iyer had also told PTI in the earlier report that the federation had tried to convince the authorities to approve all the players it had selected, but the Ministry had cited its medal-potential criteria. It’s disappointing but the criteria is the same for all sports, what to do,” Iyer said. The federation said tennis offers five separate medal events at the Asian Games and that selection needed to account for the different requirements of singles, doubles and mixed doubles. “Now a committee that never stood where they stood has decided their fate on paper, before a ball is struck.”
In response to the PTI report on Tuesday, AITA released a statement directly contradicting the SAI source.
The SAI source, however, also questioned one of AITA’s proposed doubles combinations. Prarthana was expected to potentially team up with Vaidehee, but the pair had never played together. The source also pushed back against Bopanna’s argument that the players simply deserved the opportunity to compete.
“That raises legitimate questions about their preparedness and intent to build a competitive partnership ahead of the Asian Games,” the source said. “Exposure trips belong on the ITF and Challenger circuits, not at the Asian Games,” he said.
