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Friday, Dec 15, 2006
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Bhupathi plays down Doha spat

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: Mahesh Bhupathi sought to play down the spat at Doha and reiterated his readiness to serve the country's cause if called again.

"True, it might not be the Davis Cup, but I am ready to play for the country anywhere in any tournament," the Indian ace said in a chat with The Hindu on Thursday from his London home.

Talking about Doha, Bhupathi clarified that he did not regret going there. "I did say, I didn't want to go, but I relented after calls from Leander, Mr. Anil Khanna and Mr. Suresh Kalmadi. It was a call for the country and I felt duty bound to be there. Of course, I don't regret it as I have won a gold at the end of the day," he said.

Bhupathi admitted that things got rough over there with both the captain and the coach voicing their opinions about his game in the public. "I wouldn't have done it and it should have been among ourselves and things were getting a bit rough and it was not good for the morale of the team. Mr. Khanna did rectify the situation," he said.

On the captaincy issue, Bhupathi said: "I still believe that it is not always wise to have a playing captain. The physical and mental demands are huge and Leander did the best he could under the circumstances, I still feel Ramesh Krishnan should have been given a longer stint as the non-playing captain. I hope we have a re-think on that issue."

Is it all finally over for the `Indian Express'? "Well we (Leander and I) have a strange relationship now, given our commitment to respective partners on the Tour, I see that possibility as very remote. At the same time, I don't want to rule it out altogether," Bhupathi said.

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