Whatever happened to the Olympic spirit

In a team game, whenever an individual starts to consider himself above the team, it leads to nothing but complete disintegration of the team. While the achievements of both Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi on the court remains unmatched by any other Indian, their action over the last couple of weeks has potentially cost India two medals in the upcoming London Olympics.

Notwithstanding the long raging cold war between Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes, the veteran pair remains India’s best option in the men’s doubles event. They announced themselves in a big way in 1999 but lack of trust and ego issues between the duo ensured that ‘the Indian Express’ got derailed.

But a severe paucity of options meant that the All India Tennis Association had to cajole them to team up for India for events like Davis Cup, Asian Games and the Olympics. Despite the differences, the two champion players, more often than not, rose to the occasion and produced stellar efforts. More than their class on the court, it was the chest bumps and the passion they showed to play for the Tricolor that won them many fans who were not necessarily tennis followers.

Like always, the AITA once again teamed them for the upcoming London Olympics, only to face the wrath of an outraged Bhupathi who refused to step onto the court with Paes. He claimed that he had already written to the AITA and has been preparing with Rohan Bopanna for the Olympics. The general viewpoint was that it’s one of those tussles that will get settled behind the doors and the two parties will soon reach a settlement.

But an adamant Bhupathi stuck to his claim and the whole affair got more sordid with each passing day. Finally the AITA had to bow to the demands of Bhupathi and Paes was paired up with a lowly ranked(207 in doubles) Vishnu Vardhan.

While the whole situation seems to paint Bhupathi as the main culprit, the conduct of Paes too has been far from ideal. Though, unlike Bhupathi, he remained behind the scenes, the initial reaction from the Paes camp was that he is not ready to play with a lower ranked player and might give the Olympics a miss. The AITA officials had to rush to London to pacify the veteran star and as a ‘compensation’ gave a written assurance that he and Sania Mirza will represent the country in the mixed doubles. This meant that the settled mixed doubles team of Bhupathi and Mirza, who recently won the French Open title, was disturbed and further jeopardized the prospects of a medal in London.

During the whole saga, the conduct of AITA was also spineless. As most sports governing bodies in India, AITA officials remained indecisive throughout the ordeal and were held to ransom by the players. Even though the tension between Bhupathi and Paes was an open secret, the team announcement was done without consulting the players. And once the decision was made, instead of sticking to it firmly, the association, in order to appease the warring factions, resorted to quick term solutions which often defied logic. Quite naturally when Sania Mirza lashed out at the AITA and accused it of being male chauvinist, the governing body had only lame excuses in its defence.

With the veteran duo pushing 40, this will be (or rather should be) their last chance to win an Olympic medal in the doubles event. But instead of putting their best foot forward and winning glory for the country, they opted to fan their ego and entertain their personal whim, putting India’s chances of winning medals in tennis at the London Olympics on the line. Now with the attention clearly being far away from tennis and medals, both Paes and Bhupathi will be without the support of their non traditional tennis fans as they begin their final hurrah.

Even more tragic is the fact all this happened just before an event known for its sportsmanship spirit.