Rio 2016 | Leander Paes denies reports of him refusing to share room with Bopanna

Media reports had alleged that the veteran tennis star refused to share the room with Rohan Bopanna in the games village. There were also confusions about Paes’ travel plans and Indian team captain Zeeshan Ali had also talked about the same in an interview to News18. However, when the 43-year-old finally showed up, he was left fuming after he was not allowed a room.

Just before the opening ceremony of the Games, Leander Paes took to Twitter to express his sadness in the way a section media has been reporting stories about him.

“I am disappointed and feel sad by the baseless suggestions in a section of the media and especially @digvijaysinghdeo which accuse me of not informing the tennis team about my scheduled arrival in Rio. There is also talk of me refusing to share a room with my doubles partner Rohan Bopanna, which is false and intended to unsettle our preparations for the competition. I am staying in the Games Village which was the plan all along. Hope this clarifies and puts an end to all the fabricated stories and allows me and the rest of the Indian tennis contingent to concentrate on doing our best for the nation.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to wish all my colleagues in the Indian contingent the very best for this Rio Olympics,” Leander Paes said. 

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Leander Paes had been in the thick of a storm after his tiffs with fellow players in 2012 and 2016. Initially, Rohan Bopanna had preferred Saketh Myneni as his partner ahead of the announcement, but some last-minute manoeuvring by the All India Tennis Association (AITA) saw Leander announced as the partner.

Paes and Bopanna will be in action later today in the men’s doubles with the duo scheduled to face Polish pair of Marcin Matkowski and Lukas Kubot in the opening round.

Also, read : Leander Paes - Rohan Bopanna | A disaster in the making?