The Indian Express might be back on the Court at least for Beijing Olympic, 2008.
Mahesh Bhupathi today indicated that it’s logical that he and Leander Paes join hands for the country once again, although it’s nearly impossible on the tour. After a bitter War of Words, the the most successful pair of Indain Tennis had declared their final split when they won it in Doha Asian Games.
"Olympics is far, there is still a long way to go. Ideally, we should be playing together if India has to have a chance of winning a medal (in tennis) at the Olympics,"
"That's the logical choice. On today's ranking, we would be seeded high. It would give us the best chance to win a medal."
"That's the logical choice. On today's ranking, we would be seeded high. It would give us the best chance to win a medal."
On if he had spoken to Paes on the subject. "It is still 15 months away from now," "It is still 15 months away from now,"
-Bhupathi said at a press conference.
Bhupathi has said that their partnership gave India "the best chance" of winning a tennis medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
This is of course a good News for the Indian Fans as together the duo always give rise to the hope of an Olympic Medal- something for which the Country has dreamt a lot.
However this also shows, that at present, we don’t have anyone to perform at that level and so we have to go back to the veterans again.
So don’t we really have anyone better than or at leas equal to these two? We might have, but the problem is that we are not able to find them or even if we find them, we are not able to train them and provide them the facilities matching the international standards.
We are a population of over a billion. And I am sure that the talent is there. There are many great junior players in India however they fail to deliver the performance at the senior/professional levels.
Also, in particular with the Game of Tennis, it’s a bit costlier than some other sports. Considering this and the increasing popularity of tennis, the Government of India has shown willingness to improve the condition of Tennis in the country. The efforts are thus being made at administrative levels. But beyond this, many Tennis players in the country are doing their service to the game by means of coaching, private Tennis academies, etc.
Latest addition to these efforts comes from Mahesh Bhupathi, who besides playing on the professional circuit, runs a Tennis Academy and a sports-management company-“Globosports”.
Now he has taken another step by successfully convincing “Apollo Tires” to invest a sum of Rs. 100 Crore (1 billion) towards his efforts.
Indeed, it’s a very welcome gesture for the future of Indian Tennis, not only Tennis but Indian Sports where it’s hard to get sponsors except for Cricket. (well, after the dismal show at the World Cup even BCCI found it hard to get sponsors.)
Regarding this, Bhupathi has said that he aims at nurturing the potential players who can bring a Grand slam Title or Olympic Medal in India, and the deadline he set is around ten years henceforth.
While he made the announcement of this new beginning, Bhupathi spoke about the possibility of his pairing again with Paes for the Olympic.
He also spoke about Sania Mirza:
"She is coming back from an injury and it will take time for her to find the rhythm. When the grass court season starts, she should be back in form. She is playing well."
Indian Tennis has enjoyed some glorious moments in the past. But right now, Ramesh Krishnan has retired. Mahesh and Leander are reaching the final stage of their careers on tour and Beyond Sania, there isn’t any Indian women performing at the highest level.
In light of this, the initiative by Apollo Tires and Mahesh Bhupathi will bring new hopes, I believe.
