Asian Games 2018: Leander Paes pulls out at last moment
Leander Paes has decided not to participate in the upcoming Asian Games which will begin on Saturday in Indonesia. Paes cited the reason that he was not paired up with a doubles specialist for the games as he was asked to play doubles matches with either Ramkumar Ramanathan or Sumit Nagal.
“It is with a heavy heart that I have to say that I will not be playing the upcoming Asian Games in Indonesia,” Paes wrote in a statement to PTI.
“Despite my repeated requests, from so many weeks in advance, it is sad that we have not been able to put a doubles specialist in the team for
The All India Tennis Association (AITA) decided to pair up India’s top two doubles players Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan for men’s doubles and had asked Paes to play with Ramanathan or Nagal. Ramkumar plays doubles occasionally and primarily is a singles player while
“Ramkumar Ramanathan is a very good player, and I would love to play doubles with him. But considering that he has a golden chance to win the singles medal, it is not fair to distract him from his best event,” said Paes.
Reacting to Paes’ decision of not participating in the Jakarta Games, AITA said that it is now too late to announce a replacement right now.
“Our job is to select players and if someone chooses not to participate the least he can do is inform us. Now it’s too late for us to field a replacement since accreditations are closed. We have no option but to work with the team we have. Of
45-year-old Leander Paes has won eight medals in Asian Games so far which includes three doubles gold with Gaurav Natekar (1994) and Mahesh Bhupathi (2002 and 2006).
