There has been a storm of fury brewing in the social media ever since it broke that Rohan Bopanna has expressed a desire to not partner up with Leander Paes at the Rio Olympics this year, and cricketer Harbhajan Singh is the latest to join in lending support to the 42-year-old Paes.
In a tweet, Harbhajan said that Paes was India’s best chance for a gold medal, and that he hoped that the All India Tennis Association would make the right decision.
The AITA selection committee are due to meet on the 11th of June, 2016 and will take the final decision on who will partner Bopanna at the Olympics.
In a statement, Paes said he felt that his pairing with Bopanna would be the country’s ‘best bet’ at the Olympic Games, a statement to which Bopanna is yet to respond.
India’s tennis contingent to London 2012 had similar issues as AITA aimed to have the successful Paes-Bhupathi pairing reunite for the Games. With each player refusing, Paes was partnered with Vishnu Vardhan as Bhupathi partnered Bopanna. Neither team had won a medal.
Harbhajan is one of India’s longest serving sporting heroes, but if there is one sportsperson who has been making the country proud for even longer, it is Paes. We shall know soon what the decision turns out to be this time around.
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