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New Delhi, Dealing a severe blow to India’s medal hopes, top stars Leander Paes, Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna withdrew from the 2014 Asian Games to protect their rankings in their bid to qualify for the World Masters to be held later this year.
The pullouts, announced by All India Tennis Association (AITA) came a day after the sports ministry cleared a 679-member continent for the Games and the list included the names of these three players. Paes, Bopanna and Sania were part of the 12member tennis squad, excluding the officials.
The three would be playing international tournaments which coincide with the Asian Games, AITA said in a statement. AITA officials later told TOI that it won’t be naming any replacements. Somdev Devvarman, the defending champion, has already pulled out of the event.
“In respect of Asian Games, 2014, special circumstances have developed where it’s necessary for the players to participate in ATP and WTA events to protect their rankings and to give the additional push to qualify for the year-end World Masters to be held in London for men and in Singapore in women,” AITA said in a release.
“Considering the very significant and important requirement of players, AITA has decided to respect their requests and allow them to play ATPWTA tournaments so that they can have a good opportunity to represent the nation in the World Championship to be held at the end of the year.”
AITA officials said they received the requests from the players to skip the Asian Games during the US open, which concluded earlier this week.
“We had talks with the players during the US Open. We had to think about the players and their interests. We can’t force them to play in some events,” AITA secretary general Bharat Oza told TOI.
On asked why AITA took such a long time to make the announcement, since the sports ministry had already came out of the list and there was little time name replacements, Oza said, “This could have been done earlier. But you have to understand that they have been playing at different places of the world. We won’t be naming any replacements since there’s hardly left time to get their accreditations.
“We would be sending nine players now, I would like to add that we have enough strength in our ranks.” Former India star Jaidip Mukerjea said the three players took the correct decision. “It’s a wise decision. Both Leander and Rohan’s doubles ranking is coming down.”
