Tennis ace Mahesh Bhupathi says Indian men's doubles pair of Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna were never in the reckoning for a medal at Rio Olympics due to lack of match practice
Ace Indian doubles tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi said that Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna were never in the reckoning for a medal at the Rio Olympics as they lacked preparation and match practice together. The Indian doubles men's team crashed out in the first round after losing in straight sets to the Polish pair of Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski.
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Mahesh Bhupathi tries his hand at table tennis during the launch of the 11EVEN inter-school table tennis championship at Khar Gymkhana yesterday. Pic/Suresh Karkera
"They had no preparation at all together. In 2004 and 2008, Leander and I didn't play, but when it came to the Olympics (Athens and Beijing) we played a couple of tournaments to get into the groove. This time though, they just played only one match against a dilapidated Korean (South) side in the Davis Cup which isn't ideal. Due to that, it was never going to happen in the men's doubles," Bhupathi said on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the 11Even inter-school table tennis State championships at Khar Gymkhana yesterday.
The 12-time Grand Slam champion felt that the mixed doubles team of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna were unlucky to miss out on a medal. "I think we were very unlucky. We were 3-1 up in the super- tiebreaker and also won the first set 6-2. But credit to Venus Williams, who kept it up and played superb tennis,"
he added.
India's doubles pair of Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna crashed out in the first round at the Rio Games recently. Pic/Getty Images
Following the disappointing Olympics, there was reason to smile for tennis fans this week after Saketh Myneni qualified for the men's singles event at the US Open. Bhupathi felt the 143-ranked Indian will have a good outing against the Czech World No 49 Jiri Vesely. "It is always nice to see an Indian singles player, be it in the men's or women's in the main draw of a Slam. I think Saketh has got a decent draw against Vesely and with his serve, hopefully he will have a good outing," Bhupathi said.
Tough vs Spain
Quizzed about India's prospects in next month's Davis Cup World Group play-off tie against five-time champions Spain, Bhupathi said, "It is going to be very tough. They have so much strength in depth. We would have to play out of our skins. Everything has to go in our favour."
In an effort to draw more fans, the tie against the Spaniards in Delhi will be played under floodlights. Bhupathi found the decision rather puzzling. "I don't know the reason why it is played at night. I have spoken to a couple of boys and they prefer to play during the day. The heat can be beneficial for us. This sort of decision should be taken after speaking to the team members," he said.
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