Logic Wins at Last! Rohan to Partner Leander at Rio Olympics

As expected Rohan Bopanna chose to take out his personal enmity with Leander Paes (46th in doubles) by telling the AITA that he would like Saketh Myneni (ranked 125 in doubles) as his doubles partner at the Rio Games. Bopanna had reportedly picked Saketh Myneni as his partner in an apparent effort to preempt Paes’ selection.

As was expected, the AITA rejected Bopanna’s request for Myneni as his partner, saying that India’s best chance for a medal at Rio lay in him teaming up with Paes, who won the French Open mixed doubles title earlier this month.

But AITA CEO Hironmoy Chatterjee said that the final decision lies with the selection committee “which may or may not honour Bopanna’s preference”. “I respect this decision and look forward to participating in Rio”, he said in a statement.

In the press conference, Khanna also announced that Sania Mirza will partner Rohan Bopanna in the mixed-doubles event while Prarthana Thombare, ranked 209 in the world, will partner Sania in the women’s doubles.s.

“To play for the (Indian) flag has always been the greatest inspiration for me”.

India’s Tennis campaign suffered heavily during the London Olympics 2012 due to differences between the two players. It was a well-meaning letter (which Bopanna wrote yesterday to AITA).

In all, a major crisis, which had become a trend before Olympic team selection, has been averted this time with Bopanna not defying AITA’s decision.

The vice president of AITA then went on to compare the statistics of Bopanna-Paes partnership with that of Bopanna-Saketh partnership, the former having registered better results till now. I am humbled by the love showered upon me by the people. India will now indeed be fielding it’s number one and two doubles players in the men’s doubles draw. The Rio squad will be named on Saturday. Bopanna has the option to choose India’s fifth-best Saketh Myneni (125) since other higher-ranked players such as Purav Raja (103) and Divij Sharan (114) do not meet the Davis Cup criteria to be eligible for Olympic nomination along with Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (134) and Mahesh Bhupathi (164).