Chandigarh, June 15
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, veterans of break-ups and alliances, have been forcibly paired together for their fifth and probably last shot at Olympics glory. The All India Tennis Federation (AITA), in all its wisdom, has decided that pairing the two, who currently seem to detest each other with all their hearts, is a prudent move, likeliest in culminating in a medal for the country in the London Olympic Games. Reacting to this, Bhupathi has already described today as “a sad day for Indian tennis from all perspectives”.

Bhupathi added that he and current partner Rohan Bopanna would “continue to make our case (to be entered in the Olympics as a team) to all concerned over the next few days”.

Bhupathi and Bopanna are ranked 26th as a team on the ATP circuit, which automatically qualifies them for the Olympics as a pair. Paes is ranked No. 7 individually in doubles play, and qualifies directly. The AITA had the option of sending two teams - perhaps Bhupathi with Bopanna and Paes with either Somdev Devvarman or the young Yuki Bhambri. That would have been an acceptable solution to all. But the AITA chose to bring the reluctant couple - who haven’t spoken with each other this year - together by force, which seems hardly be conducive to a victorious campaign. Bhupathi and Bopanna had refused to be considered for selection as individual players, and had also refused to team up with Paes.

The two break-up artists, India’s greatest achievers in international tennis, had been constantly telling the AITA that they didn’t want to join up again, and had also freely projected their views through media. The five AITA selectors — Jaidip Mukherjea, SP Misra, Rohit Rajpal, Zeeshan Ali and Sai Jayalakshmi — still went ahead and paired them up.

"We have taken into consideration the form of Mahesh Bhupathi, who won the French Open mixed-doubles, and also of Leander Paes' Australian Open performance,” Anil Khanna, the AITA general secretary, said. “We thought, these two make the best players to win a medal at the Olympics.”

"Having heard the three players via a teleconference, we decided that the most appropriate pairing for the Olympics would be Paes and Bhupathi,” he added.

What if they refuse to play ball? “They could be banned for two years, which they’ve been told this in advance,” an AITA official told this newspaper.

Khanna said if they turn down AITA enforced pairing, they’d not be sent to the Olympics. "We will take action. We will not send them to Olympics at all," Khanna said. "They have $ 6000 every month from the government (to train). They cannot refuse to play."