'The only thing I am feeling bad right now is, if he had decided earlier to not come even two weeks or 10 days ago, we would have got a specialist doubles team in place'
Zeeshan Ali, the captain and coach of the men's team, has no clue about Paes's arrival three days before the start of the competition on Sunday.
India's top singles players, led by Somdev Devvarman, easily advanced to the second round of ATP Pune Challenger on Tuesday, but rising star Ramkumar Ramanathan made a shock first-round exit. Third seed Somdev proved too good for local wild card Arjun Kadhe, scoring a 6-1, 6-3 victory in 60 minutes. Seventh seed Yuki Bhambri disposed of the challenge of Chinese Taipei's Liang-Chi Huang 6-3, 6-0.
Sports Minister hands over trophies to 2020 National Sports Awards winners
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
Following is the schedule of Indian contingent on the fifth day of the Asian Games.
India-Pakistan peace seem like a pipe dream but it does turn into a reality at sporting events like the ongoing Asian Games
Mahesh Bhupathi rued that his men failed to seize the opportunities against a much higher-ranked Italy
Bhupathi said home comfort and the X-factor of Calcutta South Club's grasscourts hold India in good stead in the tie
Iran ended seven-time champions India's unchallenged kabaddi domination in the Asian Games since the sport was first introduced in 1990.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Yuki Bhambri returned to Davis Cup action with a commanding victory while Ramkumar Ramanathan did not even need his 'A game' to emerge victorious as India grabbed a 2-0 lead in the World Group I Play-off tie against Denmark, in New Delhi, on Friday.
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.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was left red-faced during Sunday's felicitation ceremony to award cash prize to Asian Games medallists as the parent body got multiple names wrong on the cheques and even missed out on one.
AITA brought back old warhorse Leander Paes in the Davis Cup team despite 'reservations' from seasoned campaigner Rohan Bopanna.
Ankita Raina realised a long-time dream when she signed up with Romania's Mihaela Buzarnecu and earned a direct entry.
World No 15 India will now compete in the Zone Group action later this year.
India's schedule for Thursday, the sixth day of competition at the Asian Games, in Incheon.
The Indian selectors reposed faith in Leander Paes as the 40-year-old veteran was on Saturday included in the Asian Games squad along with established stars Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna.
Bopanna being the highest-ranked doubles player in the country is automatic choice for the doubles rubber.
Senior pro Leander Paes's place in the Indian Davis Cup team will be up for discussion when the AITA Selection Committee meets on Monday to pick the squad for the upcoming Asia/Oceania Zone tie against Uzbekistan.
Yuki Bhambri breezed past Italy's Marco Cecchinato in the opening round of the qualifiers in the Chennai Open on Saturday.
Keeping the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in mind, the sports ministry has included the doubles duo of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan, who won the Asian Games gold last year, have been kept in TOPS scheme.
Bopanna has empathy for the organisers but can't hide his own frustration either.
Tennis ace Sania Mirza expressed happiness over India winning five medals at the recently-concluded Asian Games at Incheon, although she felt many people did not expect them to do well with the team the country had sent.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
Sumit Nagal lived a dream when he took on one of the greatest players of all time at a packed Arthur Ashe stadium in a US Open first-rounder.
Defending champion Rohan Bopanna went down fighting in the thrilling doubles opening round game at the third edition of Tata Open Maharashtra, in Pune, on Wednesday. Playing alongside local boy Arjun Kadhe, the ace Indian player Bopanna dominated the game initially. However, after winning the first set convincingly, the Indian duo couldn't manage to continue the momentum further in the games against French pair of Benoit Paire and Antoine Hoang as they lost the match 3-6, 7-5, 10-7.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Sunday.
The World number 14 subdued the young Russian 6-3, 6-4 to capture his fifth ATP singles title.
AITA on sticky wicket after shift in venue
Second seed and world number 14 Roberto Bautista Agut outclassed Benoit Paire in a lop-sided semi-final to set up the singles title clash of the ATP Chennai Open with young Daniil Medvedev, who rallied to reach his maiden ATP final, in Chennai on Saturday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday.
Flavia Pennetta, Italy's newly-crowned US Open women's singles champion, will represent Mumbai Masters in this year's Champions Tennis League along with 1996 Wimbledon men's champion Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands following the players' draft, in Mumbai, on Wednesday. The second edition of the Champions Tennis League, the brainchild of former India Davis Cup captain Vijay Amritraj, will be played from November 23 to December 6, an increase of four days from last year's ten-day duration, announced Amritraj at a media conference after the players' draft.
Gunning for yet another Grand Slam title, India's old war horse Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek have been seeded fifth at the Australian Open and they will open their campaign against Czech pair of Lukas Dlouhy and Lukas Rosol.
Somdev Devvarman would be India's while Yuki Bhambri is expected to carry his good from into the new season which is full of new challenges for the Indian players as ATP Aircel Chennai Open begins on Monday.
World No. 16 Marco Cecchinato will spearhead Italy's challenge, while they also have the experienced world No. 37 Andreas Seppi as they look to continue their good record against India.
Fresh from winning the Chennai leg, Yuki Bhambri advanced to the second round, even as the other two Indians Saketh Myneni and Vishnu Vardhan made quiet exits in the $50,000 ATP Challenger at BTA Courts in Kolkata.
Frenchman Benoit lost his temper in the third game of the second set when top seed Tsitsipas halted the match to attend to a broken shoe lace.
'I still have the exact budget which I had in 2018 when I was ranked 350. It's that when I needed the most which is right now, I see people turning around and walking away.'
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