Ace tennis star Sania Mirza, on Wednesday, backed the decision of experienced duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi to part ways ahead of 2012 London Olympics.
Veteran Indian tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi claims it was Leander Paes' decision to end their much-hyped reunion within a year as he felt that they "were possibly a little too old on the tour and not able to gel on a consistent basis."
Reaping rewards of his consistent performance, Prajnesh Gunneswaran, on Monday, broke into men's singles top-100 for the first time in his career with a jump of six places that took him to 97.
Top seeds Sania and her Brazilian partner Bruno Soares edged past Abigail Spears and Santiago Gonzalez.
Nita Ambani, the chairperson at Reliance Foundation and International Olympic Committee (IOC) member from India, hosted a gala dinner in honour of Thomas Bach, IOC president.
Sania and her Chinese Taipei partner Su-Wei Hsieh, seeded second, defeated the Argentine-Swiss combine of Maria Irigoyen and Romina Oprandi 6-2, 6-0 in 48 minutes, while tenth seeds Paes and Raven Klaasen of South Africa beat the American duo of Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram 6-4, 7-6(6).
India's Sania Mirza and her Croatian partner Ivan Dodig rallied from a set down to enter the French Open mixed-doubles quarter-finals at Roland Garros on Wednesday.
The Indian contingent's schedule in the Rio Olympics for Saturday.
India's Rohan Bopanna and his Hungarian partner Timea Babos entered the quarter-finals of the Australian Open mixed doubles event with a comfortable victory in Melbourne.
Indian tennis icon Leander Paes, who will participate in the Olympics for the sixth time next year, said he is keen to promote Indian football, perhaps in the role of a brand ambassador.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
The Indian pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi were knocked out of the US Open after they lost their quarterfinal match to Poland's Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in straight sets.
Leander Paes's dreams of winning a second Olympic medal went up in smoke as he and Rohan Bopanna made an inglorious exit in the opening round of the men's doubles competition, losing in straight sets to the Polish pair of Marcin Matkowski and Lukasz Kubot 4-6 6-7 (6-8) in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday. Playing in his record seventh and probably his last Olympics, Paes - a bronze medallist at the 1996 Atlanta Games, saw his campaign get over in only 84 minutes as not for once did the Indian pair look like having forged a winning combination.
It was mixed fortunes for Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna in the men's doubles at the Wimbledon on Monday.
Indian tennis ace Leander Paes and his German partner Andre Begemann squandered as many as five match points in the second set to eventually lose the summit clash against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Henri Kontinen in a three-setter at the ATP Winston-Salem Open.
Leander Paes and Martina Hingis eased into the mixed doubles pre-quarterfinals of the Wimbledon championships but it was curtains for Rohan Bopanna and his Spanish partner Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.
We take a look at some sportsmen, who are trying their hand in acting.
Indian tennis legend Mahesh Bhupathi was named the new non-playing captain of the Davis Cup team and will take charge after the Asia/Oceania zone group I home tie against New Zealand in Pune from February 3 to 5. The tie against New Zealand will be Anand Amritraj's last tie as non-playing captain as AITA wants to give him a "farewell". Multiple Grand Slam winner Bhupathi was the hot favourite the moment AITA decided to replace Amritraj.
Rediff.com encapsulates all the sporting action from the past week in this eye-catching photo feature.
Legendary Martina Navratilova showed glimpses of her past with her super-fit partner Leander Paes but it was the duo of Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi who prevailed 7-5, 7-5 to win the Kolkata leg of the Tennis Masters, a prelude to the IPTL.
Veteran Indian tennis star Leander Paes today said that the dramatic victory he pulled off along with partner Rohan Bopanna against formidable Serbians was the best comeback effort of his Davis Cup career.
Veteran Indian tennis star Leander Paes and doubles partner Czech Radek Stepanek entered the US Open men's doubles pre-quarterfinals with a straight-set victory in the second round in New York.
Forget the past and communicate as much as possible -- that's how Rohan Bopanna plans to make his partnership with Leander Paes click in next month's Olympics as he feels there is no point in holding on to the bitterness which has marred Indian tennis. Bopanna, who wanted to play with Saketh Myneni but was teamed with Paes by AITA for Rio, says it's better to forget a few episodes. And he credits the tough and lonely life on the ATP tour for helping him overcome such setbacks. Bopanna and Paes are here for the Davis Cup tie against Korea. They will play on Saturday against Hong Chung and Yunseong Chung.
As the Indian Express join forces after nine long years on the ATP circuit, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will be hoping this reunion would help them prepare well and win Australian Open, the only Grand Slam trophy missing from their cupboard, says our correspondent Bikash Mohapatra
Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza bowed out of the Cincinnati Masters after losing their quarter-final and semi-final matches with their respective partners in the men's and women's doubles.
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.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
Indian tennis legend Leander Paes says he wishes to exit from the game just like global icons Pele and Mohammad Ali who bid adieu to their respective sports when they were at the pinnacle of their careers.
Career best rank of 168 in singles for Ramkumar
At 44, with 18 Grand Slam titles and an Olympic medal in his cupboard, Leander Paes is finding it "tough to set new goals" but still spent his off-season getting stronger to remain relevant in modern day tennis, which is being dominated by brute power.
'I don't think you can fault us for not trying. We kept giving our best shot because we know how special a relationship it is for not just us but the country as well'
Leander Paes and his Canadian partner Daniel Nestor cruised into the third round of the men's doubles at the French Open, beating the German-Austrian pair of Andre Begemann and Julian Knowle in straight sets on Friday. The 10th seeded Indo-Canadian pair won 7-6(7-3), 6-2.
Tottenham's task was made all the more difficult two minutes before the interval when forward Son Heung-min was sent off
Few are aware of the fact that Leander Paes completed two decades in tennis this year, two decades in which he represented the country in Davis Cup while achieving a lot of success on the professional tour as well.
Prajnesh is now ranked 102 in the men's singles rankings with a jump of seven places while Ankita leapfrogged 35 places to a career-high 168 in the women's singles.
Sania Mirza and Leander Paes were on course for a Australian Open showdown as they reached the mixed doubles semifinals with their respective partners, in Melbourne.
Leander Paes and Martina Hingis won their mixed doubles opener at the Australian Open tennis tournament on Sunday.
The Indian doubles ace said the AITA preferred the pairing for the Asian Games as it felt they have a good chance of winning the gold medal.
Shifting of India's only ATP event from Chennai to Pune after 21 years has disappointed the Amritraj brothers.
Tendulkar praised Team India and said in every session there was a new hero who stepped up to the occasion to deliver for his side.
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