{image-Leander Paes_29022008.jpg news.oneindia.in}New Delhi, Feb 29: The All India Tennis Association (AITA) has finally put an end to all the speculations, rising after the surprised revolt of top Davis cup players against their captain Leander Paes, as they decided to retain the same Davis Cup team against Japan starting April 11, which somehow clears AITA firm stand to continue Leander as the captain of the team.

The AITA officials had an emergency meeting on Thursday to sort out the unprecedented players revolt issue that has put Indian tennis in turmoil.
The hullabaloo emerged when Davis Cuppers Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna, Prakash Amritraj and Karan Rastogi had refused to play under the captaincy of Paes. They together wrote a letter to AITA accusing Paes for going openly in media for criticising team members.

At the moment, the AITA governing body has given a word to the repulsive players that they will hear out their grievances before coming to any conclusion, which could be arrived only after the Beijing Olympics in August.

However, the rebellion players got chink in the arm when Rastogi backed out of the revolt few days back. The AITA has also formed a two-member committee, comprising Bharat Ojha and Hiranmoy Chatterjee, to look into the matter.

The panel will be doing independent analysis and will send its recommendations to the Executive Committee of AITA for the final decision that will be taken only after the Olympics.

The AITA has also appointed SP Mishra as the manager of the Davis Cup team for the upcoming tie against Japan considering the lack of communication among the team members. Col. Randhir Chauhan has also been appointed as media manager to assist the manager.
"There is a very little time to consider any issue like this. It is very vital to talk to the players and selection committee."

"The Japan tie is starts on April 11 and the committee felt that we should not take this till the Challengers in May, when all the players will be here," Anil Khanna, AITA Secretary General, told mediapersons at a press conference after the meeting.

The panel comprising members of the selection committee also attended the emergency meeting and suggested that Paes should continue to be the captain of the team, which will be playing against Japan, and therefore retained the same team that will consist of Bhupathi, Amritraj, Bopanna and Som Dev Varman.

Meanwhile the AITA also urged Bhupathi and Paes to play together for the sake of India"s medal hopes at the Beijing Olympics.


OneIndia News