Vardhan to pair up with Paes

NEW DELHI: India’s top tennis doubles player will team up with a poorly-rated, inexperienced partner at the Olympics after two higher-ranked players refused to play with him. Leander Paes, ranked seventh in the world as a doubles player, will be paired with 207th-ranked Vishnu Vardhan, the All India Tennis Association announced following days of arguments in which even the government tried to intervene. Both Rohan Bopanna and Mahesh Bhupathi said they would not play with Paes for a range of personal and professional reasons. Bhupathi and Bopanna will now be India’s second pair at London 2012. “The events of the last few days have been extremely challenging,” the duo said. “Our sole focus is now on our team’s preparations for the Games.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2012.