Internet Desk: With less than 100 days to go for the Rio Olympics, tennis lovers in the country will be anxiously waiting for the announcement of the Indian team. The biggest question mark making rounds right now is whether Leander Paes, who is eyeing a record seventh Olympics will be in the Indian team. As the selection of Paes will entirely depend on whom Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna chose as partner in mixed doubles and men’s doubles event.
There is a huge question mark about who actually will make it to the Rio bound Indian team following the new guidelines issued by the International Olympic Committee. Under the new guidelines by the International Tennis Federation no National Association can apply for wild cards, a move that will have a direct impact on the Indian tennis contingent at the Olympics.
Essentially, this means that individual players will have to qualify for the Olympics based solely on their rankings and cannot be nominated by their respective national associations. As the situation stands now, any doubles player ranked 10th or better on 6 June, will gain direct entry and can choose their partner.
At present only Rohan Bopanna has a chance of gaining a direct entry as he is ranked 11th in men’s doubles as per the latest ATP rankings. India’s next best men’s doubles player is Leander Paes who is ranked 59. Leander, now aged 42 has not been in the best of form in recent times.
Paes is followed by Saketh Myneni at 113, Purav Raja at 115 and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan at 140, making the top-five Indian in men’s doubles.
Mahesh Bhupathi, who is currently ranked 214 may still find a place in the team if he is picked by either Bopanna (provided he breaks into the top 10 by June 06) and Sania Mirza to partner them in men’s doubles and mixed doubles.
In the women’s doubles ranking only Sania Mirza automatically guarantees her place in the women’s doubles event at Rio. Sania, who is currently ranked No. 1 in the world, will get to choose her partner for women’s doubles.
However mixed doubles could turn out to be an area of contention because only player’s who are part of the tennis contingent in singles and doubles can be nominated for the mixed doubles. At the moment both Bopanna and Leander has a chance of partnering Sania.
Former tennis players and coach Jaidip Mukherjee and Akhtar Ali feel India’s best chance to win a medal at Rio is the mixed doubles. According to Jaidip, “Sania should pair Bopanna as they are the best option available right now.”
Another veteran Akhtar Ali also echoed a similar view. “To be honest I do not see much hope of a medal win at the Rio Olympics. India has the best chance of coming close to winning a medal in mixed doubles. Sania and Bopanna is the best possible option available right now.”
In the men’s doubles, if Bopanna breaks into the top 10 before June 06, he will make it to the draw and could pick any partner he wants. He has previously played with Mahesh Bhupathi at the 2012 Olympics. However, if he does not, then there is an outside chance that Bopanna might partner Paes. India’s highest ranked pair, will partner in the men’s doubles based on their combined ranking and one of them will partner Sania in the mixed doubles.
There was a huge controversy surrounding the selection of partners for the London 2012 event. After weeks of speculation, it was decided that Leander and Mahesh, two of India’s best tennis players at that time played with different partners in men’s doubles. Leander partnered Vishnu Vardhan while Mahesh played alongside Bopanna in the men’s doubles. Leander partnered Sania in the mixed doubles. Somdev and Vishnu represented the country in the men’s singles. In the women’s doubles Sania partnered Rushmi Chakravarthi. Barring the Mixed Doubles pair, not a single Indian reached the quarterfinals.
As of now, the best-case scenario would be Bopanna breaking into the top 10 men’s doubles’ ranking before 6 June and qualifying for the Olympics on points. That would assure a team each in men’s and women’s doubles.