AITA tells me Lee-Mirza a gold winning prospect: Mahesh

Kolkata, Sep 20 (UNI) Indian doubles ace Mahesh Bhupathi today said the All India Tennis Association decided on pairing Sania Mirza with Leander Paes for the coming Doha Asian Games as it deemed that the combination had the best chance of winning the mixed doubles gold for India.

Bhupathi, who had yesterday expressed surprise at the powers-that-be in Indian tennis preferring Leander over him as Sania's partner for the quadrennial event, said the AITA had given him the reasons for their decision.

''Today Mr Anil Khanna called me and said the three member technical committee thought that Sania and Leander played together in the last Asiad. They also were partners in the Asian Hoffman Cup in Hyderabad. And at present Leander is in better form than me,'' said Bhupathi.

''Khanna also told me that the decision was taken by the three member selection committee who thought that the pair had the best chance of winning the gold,'' said Bhupathi, who flew in to the city today to be present at the ongoing Sunfeast Open tennis tournament organized by his sports management company Globosport.

Bhupathi, who still seemed hurt about the decision, reiterated that he was not consulted before the decision.

''I had only been reading and hearing about it ever since I returned to India, till I spoke to Khanna,'' he said.

Asked if he was planning to pair with leander Paes in near future, he said, ''In all probability in Olympics 2008 we will pair again. We are pairing again in Doha Asian games and we will probably go there three days before and start practicing.'' UNI BA DH BS1909