Tennis: Mahesh Bhupathi bids farewell to Olympics

Mahesh Bhupathi will not play in the Olympics again. He made this statement after his miserable performance, along with his handpicked partner Rohan Bopanna, in the 2^nd round of the London Games. It was the second time in a month that this team lost poorly at Wimbledon. The first was at the All England Championships.

While making the exit statement, Bhupathi was still assuming the selector’s role. He said he would be on the stands rooting for Bopanna, his partner, at the next Olympiad. That means Bopanna is already in the Indian tennis team for the 2016 Olympics. I suppose Bhupathi will announce the second player in due course.

Normally, the team selection should be the responsibility of the All India Tennis Federation (AITF). But Bhupathi and a couple of politicians made this organization ineffectual and really a laughing stock. As a result, instead of the potential medal winning combination of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, which AITF originally chose, India ended up sending what could be possibly its third-string team for the Olympic laurels. I am making this statement after watching Leander Paes and Vishnu Vardhan play so brilliantly against the 2^nd seeded French pair of Tsonga and Llorda yesterday.

The tampering with team selection was not in the nation’s interest. It was purely personal. What problem exists between Bhupathi and Paes is not known. But that should have been sidelined in the best interest of the country. Paes was willing to play with Bhupathi or anyone else. But the latter decided to play only with Bopanna. And he had his way, which led to an inglorious exit.

There were reports about Bhupathi protesting against Leander being chosen to partner Sania Mirza at the Dhoha Asian Games in 2006. But that team won the Gold Medal. Though they have not played together for a long time, their performance yesterday against Zimonjic and Ivanovic of Serbia was almost mixed doubles tennis at its best.

We don’t know who is behind the problem, but it is said there have been moves against Paes once he reached an enviable stature in world tennis that he still maintains and also when he became the Captain of the Indian Davis Cup team. Even a non-national who was imported to play for India in Davis Cup (he was packed off after a while) seemed to have been against Paes.

Maybe there is something wrong with this Indian hero with regard to interpersonal relations. But if that were so, it would have been unlikely for him to have gained the eminence he enjoys in world tennis. It seems that Paes has partnered 67 players in men’s doubles. This can mean two things. One is that he cannot get on with his partners. The other is that he can adjust his game to that of different partners and keep on winning laurels.

Let me conclude with quoting Vishnu Vardhan’s statement after  his remarkable performance yesterday against the French (as reported by The Hindu). “Leander is a huge inspiration for me… I am happy and fortunate that I play in the era of Leander.”

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Related post:

Tennis: Leander Paes, the Indian Hero

The Hyderabad drama

The Shoaib Malik – Ayesha Siddiqui confrontation in Hyderabad is over. The wedding of the Pakistan cricketer and the Indian tennis star Sania Mirza has been advanced to today according to some reports. The reception is to be on 15^th April as announced earlier.

Yesterday Shoaib had made a statement for the benefit of his countrymen in which he said that he is no one to judge what is right and what is wrong but God knows the truth. That is right. For five years or so he decided that he was married to Ayesha. Then he decided she was not wedded to him. But finally he accepts that he was married to the Hyderabad girl and grants her the divorce that she had been demanding.

It would have been a graceful event if Shoaib Malik had made some sort of apology for the unnecessary tension that he caused to millions of Sania fans in India because of his recent refusal to grant the divorce which apparently was a legal requirement. Sania is India’s daughter and almost every Indian was concerned about her. Anyway, now we can all wish her a long and happy married life.

Shoaib Malik is certainly sensitive to the feelings of his people. After India beat Pakistan at Johannesburg in the 2007 Twenty 20 World Cup finals, this man made a strange statement at the podium. He apologized to the entire Muslim population of the world for the failure to win the cup. Did Salim Malik consider that it was more of a religious contest than a sporting event?

April 16, that is the day after his wedding reception at Hyderabad, seems to be the last day for Shoiab Malik to appeal to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) against the one year ban and Rs.2million fine that have been imposed on him. This punitive action has nothing do with the recent marriage controversy.

The enquiry committee appointed by the PCB found Shoiab Malik guilty of poor performance, infighting within the team and for faking, during Pakistan’s last New Zealand tour, an ankle injury. Six others were also punished by the PCB.

Sania Mirza has stated that she would continue to play tennis for India and Shoiab Malik has endorsed it. In Pakistan tennis is a minor sport. There is not much that a player of Sania’s class can do there. But the Pakistanis are hoping for her support to women’s tennis in their country. Dilawar, the Pakistan Tennis Federation President has already suggested that Sania should team up with Aisam-ul-Haq who is ranked within the top 50 doubles players in the world, for mixed doubles.

Would Sania be qualified to play for India after her wedding to Shoiab Malik? I suppose that she would be till, if at all, she obtains a Pakistani Passport. Indian tennis legend Vijay Amrithraj’s son Prakash was dropped from the Indian Davis Cup team because he holds a US Passport.

Well Sania, all the best.

Also see: At 22, can Sania Mirza make a comeback?

Sports: Two girls from Hyderabad

You have probably guessed already that I am talking about the tennis ace Sania Mirza and badminton star Saina Nehwal. The former was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) on November 15, 1986. Saina’s date of birth is March 17, 1990. She was born in Haryana. The parents of both moved to Hyderabad. And both have done India proud.

Surprisingly, both Sania and Saina came into reckoning in 2003. Sania won the Wimbledon Girls Doubles title that year partnering Alisa Kleybanova of Russia. The same year the then 13 years old Saina won the Czechoslovakia Junior Open.

Sania Mirza’s rise in the women’s tennis arena was meteoric. India had never seen anything like that before. The whole nation stood up and cheered this beautiful girl who had become a star overnight. And she did not disappoint the millions. She became the first Indian lady to break into the coveted group of the world’s top 50 women tennis players.

Sania Mirza’s victorious march did not stop there. Even without winning many tournaments her rank kept on improving. In August 2007 her world singles rating was 27^th, her best ever. Her top rank in doubles was 18.

Then the slide started. Probably the problems Sania faced took their toll. I had briefly mentioned that in a September 2008 post, At 22, can Sania Mirza make a comeback? . Subsequently she had to go through a broken engagement too. As on March 22, 2010, Sania Mirza’s rank was 92 in singles and 36 in doubles.

It is all so sad.

Saina Nehwal’s is a different story. She climbed the ladder slowly but surely. Apart from talent, steady hard work was her forte. Her potential was quite obvious to her father Dr. Harvir Singh and mother Usha Nehwal who was a former badminton champion in Hariyana. They gave her total support.

Saina was initially coached by Dronacharya Award winner SM Arif. She also had a stint with the former Indonesian badminton star Atik Jauhari. Now she is with the badminton academy of the Indian legend P. Gopichand.

2008 saw stunning performances by Saina Nehwal. She achieved what no other Indian woman had till then. She won Chinese Taipei Open, Commonwealth Youth Games, and World Junior Championships. She also reached the quarterfinals in the Beijing Olympics.

Sterling performances followed in 2009. Her world rank that year was 7, which another Indian lady, Ami Ghia, had reached in 1983. The year 2010 started on a high note for Saina Nehwal. She reached the semi finals of the All England Championships and her world rank has improved to 5. Outstanding achievement, at the age of 20.

Ami Ghia who is a national selector now says that Saina would become the World No.1 in course of time. The next two major events waiting for her are Asian Badminton Championships (New Delhi, April 12-18) and the Commonwealth Games (New Delhi, October 3-14).

It is possible that at one time Saina Nehwal was inspired by Sania Mirza’s achievements. Perhaps it is now the turn of Sania to take encouragement from the positive determination and dedicated effort displayed by the badminton ace.

Sania Mirza still has world class talent. If she applies herself single-mindedly, it may be possible for her to get into the group of top women tennis players. She is only reaching the age of 24. Many stars now ranked above her are older than that.

Anyway, India is proud of both these girls.

Also see: A rising hope squashed?

At 22, can Sania Mirza make a comeback?

Sania Mirza was the heartthrob of millions. Good looks combined with tennis skills made her a heroine, a poster girl. The whole nation looked up to her to bring home more and more laurels and proudly followed her career.

At the age of 22, Sania is the 91^st ranked women tennis player in the latest (September 8) WTA list. That sounds good. An Indian girl in the top 100. But what is bothersome is the route map to her present grade.

Sania Mirza started 2005 with a rank of 134. From there onwards, it was a steady climb. By the end of August 2005 she had brilliantly fought her way to the 42^nd place. In August 2007 she reached her best ever rating, 27^th in the world. That was incredible. Many expected her to break into the top 20 this year. But instead it was a downward slide from then on.

What went wrong? A lack of focus and commitment? Nonchalance? Immaturity? I suppose a bit of all these plus fitness problems and a penchant for getting into controversies. Some of the issues she had to face were ridiculous. They were not of her making but brought severe pressures on her.

However, Sania Mirza cannot shirk the responsibility for appearing at the Beijing Olympics march past in training clothes. The explanation that she had to come straight from practice was childish. All those thousands of athletes who took part also had to practice.

Sania Mirza could have taken a cue from Leander Paes (once ranked 73 in men’s singles) for commitment and fitness. Or she could draw inspiration from the other three Indian girls who are doing brilliantly in their chosen sports.

Saina Nehwal is just 18. She reached the quarterfinals in badminton at Beijing Olympics with a great performance. The girl is now ranked 14 in the world. The other two are in squash racquets. Joshna Chinnappa, 22, the National Women’s Champion, is 39^th in the world (slipped two places recently). There is an interesting aside about Joshna. When someone mentioned that she was the Sania Mirza of badminton, her repartee was, ‘No, Sania is the Joshna Chinnappa of tennis’.

Then there is Dipika Pallikkal, the beauty who will be turning 17 this month. (A rising hope squashed?) This brilliant squash player is the world’s 57th ranked women. She slipped three places in the latest ranking. She certainly has a bright future if she does not follow Sania Mirza’s pattern.

There are great comeback stories in sports. Let us hope that Sania Mirza returns with all glory. But that would take a lot of character and hard work. Among the current top ten women tennis players, four are her age or younger. On the other hand is the example of Lindsay Davenport. Even at the age of 32, she is ranked 21.

Sania can still do it. She should ignore everything else and concentrate on her game and fitness.

Ends.

Also see:

Tennis: Leander Paes, the Indian Hero

Ramanathan Krishnan: India’s Tennis Legend.

Sports scan

[Blog activity had to be suspended temporarily due to a bad cold. Chennai weather – hot and cold, rain and sunshine – is to be blamed I suppose. A doctor joke – if you don’t treat a cold it will take 7 days to go away. But if you consult a doctor and get proper treatment it will disappear in just 1 week!]

The euphoria of the two great cricket victories – under 19 World Cup and CB Series in Australia – vanished with the news that India failed to qualify for Olympic hockey. Well, it has been on the cards for some time, because of the way the game was being managed. Nevertheless, failing to make the grade has come as a shock.

Why doesn’t KPS Gill resign as President of the Indian Hockey Federation? Is he taking a clue from Musharraf from across the border? The latter once said ‘Pakistan needs me’. Gill seems convinced that India hockey requires his services to rebuild and regain the lost glory.

Well, so much for ‘officers and gentlemen’.

After India lost the Olympic Hockey Gold in 1960 I wrote an article about a plan for restructuring Indian hockey. Sport & Pastime (a great magazine which just stopped publishing) carried it prominently. Wonder if The Hindu archives would have a copy so that I can see what I wrote nearly 50 years back and how relevant it is today.

Clouds are over the tennis courts too. But don’t blame the officials. The Bangalore open went off successfully. I don’t think anyone missed Sania Mirza. She lost without even playing. Whoever advised her pull out of the tournament did a disservice to her and the country.

The Davis Cup mess is unpardonable. There is no point sulking because Paes has been doing a great job for India. What right has a player who once opted out of the Indian team to revolt against the captain. He has set a bad example to the junior players.

Indian approach to sports seems to be highly subjective. The reaction of a former Indian Davis Cup player and non playing captain to Prakash Amritraj being ticked off by the captain for late night outing was something like this – the boy is the son of the great Vijay.

Of course India is proud of Vijay who is one of the greatest tennis players the country has produced. But that doesn’t mean his son should not conform to team discipline.

Ends.

Also see: Ramanathan Krishnan: India’s Tennis Legend.