India tennis legend Rohan Bopanna on Sunday joined the growing criticism over India’s trimmed tennis squad for the upcoming Asian Games, throwing his weight behind the five players who have been removed by the Sports Ministry, from the original list of 12 submitted by the All India Tennis Association (AITA).
“I’m a proud Indian. They didn’t ask for mercy.
They asked for a chance,” Bopanna said. And today, I want to speak up for these tennis players who deserve better.
“If we say that I will compete only when I am a seeded player, then what’s the point of going there? Why play tennis at all?” Because it is a different set-up, “There are instances where the underdogs beat the top players and win medals and win tournaments.
Who knows, this may not be the right thing,” she said.
This move has left India thin on their chances in women’s singles, with not a single prospect remaining, which includes the removal of Sahaja, India’s highest-ranked singles player. The final squad approved has only seven players. Sumit Nagal and Dhakshineswar Suresh make up the men’s singles contingent, while Yuki Bhambri, N Sriram Balaji and Anirudh Chandrasekar have been picked in doubles. Ankita Raina and Rutuja Bhosale are the only two women retained. Bopanna reckoned that such decisions often have a far more negative returns than just rejecting a player. “This isn’t just a call about five athletes.
It’s a message to every parent, every sponsor who backed them before the country did, who bet on merit and results, not on being pre-approved,” he said.
