India's top singles player Somdev Devvarman's decision to concentrate on the ATP tour at the expense of the upcoming Asian Games has come under sharp criticism from the All India Tennis Federation.
With the athletes bidding goodbye to Paris after another bone-tingling edition of the Olympics, Norma Astrid Godinho/Rediff.com, shares some interesting nuggets that made the Paris Olympics an event to remember!
Leander Paes has preferred the Brisbane International over India's only ATP event, the Chennai Open, and the fans will definitely miss him, but tournament organisers said they have learnt to live without India's most celebrated player.
Indian Davis Cupper Prakash Amritraj beat Jasper Smit of The Netherlands 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinal.
Seeking to clear the air around the negative perception created following comments of Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza, the AITA put on record how it aggressively pursued the case of Bopanna and Divij Sharan for entry into the Tokyo Olympics.
The second seed demolished qualifier Minori Takemoto of Japan in the ITF Women's Futures tournament.
'We are not interested in forfeiting the tie. We look forward to working with the ITF to find a solution that guarantees the safety of all the players'
AITA on sticky wicket after shift in venue
Dhankhar, who took to cricket in his school days and also had keen interest in spirituality and meditation, began his political journey with the Janata Dal and won the Lok Sabha elections in 1989.
Doubles exponent Rohan Bopanna retained his place in India's Davis Cup team despite his recent run-in with the national federation, which named a five-member squad for the upcoming World Group I away tie against Finland.
Top seed Chia-Jing Chuang and India's No. 2 seed Rushmi Chakravarthi crashed to lesser-known opponents in the quarter-finals of the ITF Women's Futures tournament.
'I'm also happy to receive support from back home in India, my coach and association officials are in constant touch. I've got another ticket for May 11, and hopefully, the situation will become normal by then, and I will return'
The All India Tennis association (AITA), taking a more aggressive stance than earlier, said it would not request for a neutral venue for the Asia Oceania Zone 1 tie on September 14-15 as is being asked by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
Rushmi Chakravarthy also made the grade in the CCI-ITF Futures tournament in Mumbai.
The victory saw the Indian wild card enter the second round in the Mother's Recipe-ITF Women's Futures tournament.
Ms Usha may soon discover that winning four gold medals at the Asian Games and qualifying for the Los Angeles Olympics is a walk in the park compared with the challenges of stabilising governance at the IOA, observes Kanika Datta.
Bopanna is justified in picking a partner of his choice since rules permit him to do so, but at the same time it holds true that even if Bopanna had ended up at No. 11 in the world rankings on the cut-off date, he and Paes, with their combined ranking, would have made the draw by a margin if not comfortably.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.'
Playing only his second junior Grand Slam, 17-year-old won 7-5, 6-3
Team India will compete in 15 sporting disciplines as well as four disciplines in the para sports category.
Rohan Bopanna, Sunil Kumar Sipaeya, Manoj Mahadevan and Vinod Sridhar made it to the second round in the Delhi leg of the tournament.\n\n
Mhieslhouto (left) of Nagaland and Khamgailung of Manipur, among the ball kids selected for the Australian Open '09, at a function in New Delhi on Monday.
Union Sports Secretary Injeti Srinivas on Saturday made it clear that Saketh Myneni is "no less deserving" than Rohan Bopanna for the prestigious Arjuna award despite questions being raised about his merit.
Leander Paes is set to return to the Indian Davis Cup squad after making himself available for the upcoming tie against Pakistan as the country's top players and non-playing captain Mahesh Bhupathi have refused to travel to the neighbouring nation, citing security concerns.
Miffed at not getting a 'specialist' men's doubles partner, veteran tennis star Leander Paes, on Thursday, pulled out of the 18th Asian Games starting on Saturday.
It is a pity that he does not take his youth influencer role more seriously and align his brand endorsements more responsibly, notes Kanika Datta.
Stakeholders have shown a distinct lack of seriousness in bringing a law against corruption in Indian sports, a reason why someone like tainted former pacer S Sreesanth got away despite strong evidence of spot-fixing against him in the 2013 IPL, former Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar has said.
The All India Tennis Association says an unflattering perception is being created about it in the wake of Mahesh Bhupathi's removal as captain when it actually selected Rohit Rajpal because the ITF, till the last moment, had not given the impression that it would move the Davis Cup tie out of Islamabad.
Why did the AITA pair Sania Mirza with Rohan Bopanna for the mixed doubles at the Olympics?
The Indian ace dropped two places to be ranked 34th in the WTA rankings
INOX Group has earlier supported various sporting events, teams and leagues in table Tennis, football, badminton, running, basketball and cricket, and building awareness among masses through effective promotional initiatives.
AITA won't force any player to travel to Pakistan and is willing to send even a second-string team to avoid suspension
Promising Indian tennis ace Karan Rastogi says though he didn't play a game in the Davis Cup match against New Zealand, all the same it was a great learning experience.
The former US Open champion has withdrawn from this year's tournament because of a lingering wrist injury.
'I was confident that I would surely get into any of the IPL teams, but I was not picked.'
Ram Kumar Ramanathan will take on Seong-Chan Hong, ranked more than 200 places below him, in the first singles match of the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania group-I tie between India and South Korea starting in Chandigarh on Friday.
Bhupathi had, on Sunday, made public his WatsApp chat with Paes, to counter accusations that he used his position as Davis Cup team captain to exclude the latter from the playing squad.
40-year-old Sharath showed that age was just a number.
The victory earned Bopanna a meeting with Russia's Dmitri Vlasov in the f inal of the ITF Futures tournament.
