Paes retains captaincy, decision on player revolt after Olympics

New Delhi, Feb 28 (UNI) Coming out in full support of Leander Paes, the AITA has retained him as the playing captain for India's next Davis Cup engagement, and has sought to buy more time on the player revolt by deffering a decision on on the issue until after the Olympics.

In an emergency meeting here today, The All India Tennis Association (AITA) decided to retain the same Davis Cup team that featured against Uzbekistan for the tie against Japan starting on April 11.

''We hope that the all the players will unite and try to resolve their differences, keeping in view the interest of the country,'' AITA President Anil Khanna told mediapersons here today.

The governing body also decided to form a two-member committee comprising Bharat Ojha and Hiranmoy Chatterjee, to look into the issue of players' revolt which has rocked Indian tennis.

They will make their recommendations to the AITA's Executive Committee and a final decision will be taken only after the Olympics.

Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna, Prakash Amritraj and Karan Rastogi had writen a letter to the AITA, refusing to play under Paes' leadership.

Pointing out the mercurial record of Leander Paes and the achievements of Mahesh Bhupathi, Khanna express hope that the duo will play in the upcoming in the Beijing Olympics and will definitely produce a medal for the country.

The AITA has appointed SP Mishra as India Davis Cup team manager while Col Randhir Chauhan will assist him as the media manager for the tie against Japan.

The selection committee has also asked the players who revolted against Paes not to talk to the media till tomorrow.

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