'Sacrificed a very good shot at medal in Tokyo Olympics': Sania Mirza, Rohan Bopanna slam AITA

The Tokyo Olympics is just around the corner, and India's tennis arena is seeing a new controversy unfolding. The country's star doubles player Rohan Bopanna, who failed to make the cut for the Tokyo Olympics along with Divij Sharan because of their low combined rank, on Monday accused AITA of misleading everyone by claiming it had changed the combination by pairing him with Sumit Nagal for a shot at qualification.

The All India Tennis Association (AITA) hit back at Bopanna by saying that it only tried to help him since he could not qualify on his own.

The AITA had announced the nomination of Bopanna and Sharan for the men's doubles event of the Tokyo Games. However, Bopanna (38) and Sharan (75), with a low combined rank of 113 missed out on qualification. According to the International Tennis Federation (ITF), a few days before the July 16 deadline, they were the fifth alternate.

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But, after Nagal made the cut for the men's singles on July 16 following large-scale withdrawals, AITA saw hope in getting a men's doubles team's entry since singles players were being given the priority to fill the doubles draws.

The AITA announced that it had changed the combination by pairing Bopanna with Nagal.

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"ITF has never accepted an entry for Sumit Nagal & myself. ITF was clear that no changes were allowed after the nomination deadline (22nd June) unless Injury/Illness. AITA has misled the players, government, media and everyone else by stating we still have a chance," Bopanna tweeted.

Sania Mirza too slammed the AITA for denying India “a very good shot at a medal” in the mixed doubles. She and Bopanna were supposed to play in the mixed doubles had the latter qualified for the Olympics along with Sharan.

Sania will be playing in the women’s doubles section along with Ankita Raina. Incidentally, she has won three Grand Slam titles so far in the mixed doubles segment and has been the runner-up four times.

AITA secretary general Anil Dhupar said they reached out to the ITF for changing the nomination.

"We wrote to the ITF that we want to change the nomination and now want to pair Bopanna with Nagal, so please advise us how to go forward. While they said changing the nomination was possible only in case of injury and illness and also under special circumstances, they said they would keep us posted even as only seven hours are left for the deadline to expire," Dhupar told PTI.

"So, where is the question of misleading anyone. How are we supposed to gain by it? The fact is that Bopanna's ranking was not good enough for qualification. We only tried to help him so that he could compete in the Games. Why he did not qualify on his own?" he added.

Senior sports journalist Boria Majumdar tweeted, "Dear @IOAPresidentNDB as IOA President who is in Tokyo you should take cognisance of this. Was there a chance @rohanbopanna and @MirzaSania could have played? Why was Rohan being misled? Why does this keep happening in Indian tennis?"

Another sports journalist Shashank Kishore tweeted, "And the mandatory AITA v player mess (Rohan Bopanna this time) has begun ahead of the Olympics. Was just wondering how it hadn't happened until now."

Bollywood actress Saiyami Kher too voiced her opinion in favour of Bopanna, "I am extremely confused. @rohanbopanna played the Quarters at a major grand slam a few months ago. He’s been a top name of Indian tennis for many years. His entry isn’t sent for the #Olympics & has to miss out. How is this acceptable? Indian tennis really needs better management!"

Meanwhile, some Twitter users decided to defend the AITA.

(With inputs from PTI)