The Hindu : Sport : Leander-Mahesh to defend gold

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Thursday, Dec 07, 2006
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Leander-Mahesh to defend gold

Kamesh Srinivasan

AITA secretary general Anil Khanna takes up matters in his hand

— Photo: AFP

STRAINED RELATIONS: Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes will have to bury their personal differences if they hope to defend their gold medal at the 15th Asian Games.

DOHA: Whether they like playing together or not, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have no option but to go for the gold in the men's doubles event at the Asian Games here.

After elaborate trials with Leander and Mahesh pitted against Rohan Bopanna and Mustafa Ghouse, it was left to the secretary-general of the All India Tennis Association (AITA), Anil Khanna, to take up matters in his hand and file the team nominations.

After one set each, Leander and Mahesh won the super tiebreak. They obviously played much better than what they had dished out on Monday evening when they were a pale shadow of their original self.

Yet, the confrontation between two of the finest tennis players of the country, who have more than a dozen Grand Slam titles between them, continued for the second day.

Not too happy

Leander was apparently not too happy with the level of game from Mahesh, and the latter confronted him by saying that he too had missed many volleys in that match against the Chinese Taipei that they had lost in the team competition.

The fact remained that both the players were below par. If Mahesh did not hold serve even once, Leander did so only once, in their shocking surrender to Wang Yeu Tzuoo and Yen Hsun Lu. Mahesh argued that the two would keep improving over the next few days and reach their original level.

Not quite convinced that he could defend the doubles gold with Mahesh, Leander asked Bopanna to play with him. However, the strapping lad from Coorg who had reached two ATP Tour event doubles finals this year in Chennai and Mumbai, politely turned down the offer, saying that he had fixed up with Mustafa for the next season as well and that the two had been working together a lot.

Resolving the situation

"I am very hopeful that Leander and Mahesh will perform at their best and win us the gold," said Anil Khanna after having resolved the situation, and made the nominations for the individual competition two hours after the deadline as an exceptional case.

The AITA secretary general was all praise for the leadership of Leander and his ability to carry the team forward, putting personal interest aside.

"Leander is a true professional, and has led the team in an exemplary fashion. He puts the interest of the team above everything else. He is frank in assessing the situation, and his frankness should not be misconstrued as anything else," said Khanna as he attempted to provide an insight to the actions and reactions of the team captain.

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