Top Indian tennis stars threaten to boycott CWG

New Delhi: There is more trouble brewing up for the Commonwealth Games as some of the top male tennis players from the country have threatened to boycott the Games.

Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Somdev Devvarman and Rohan Bopanna have threatened to pull out unless the Sports Ministry clears their dues of a total of about 2 crores that have been pending for the past two years.

The players have written to the All India Tennis Association saying they don't have the time to run around and are therefore authorising the AITA to deal on their behalf.

The letter says, "we unfortunately have no time to run around and speak to authorities & are therefore reaching out to you. We give you full authority to mention at your meetings that unless there is some traction to what has been promised to us within the next month, none of us will be available to play in Delhi in the CWG in October".

The All India Tennis Association is totally sympathetic to the players saying 21 crores was allocated to Indian tennis for the Commonwealth Games and the players deserve the money they are demanding for training. But they're also diffusing the crisis saying a pull out won't be necessary since the problem will be resolved.

Advertisement

General Secretary of the AITA, Anil Khanna told NDTV, "let me assure you that the big four of the Indian tennis will play in the Commonwealth Games. I understand their concern but I am sure the ministry will be sensitive to this issue and clear their dues".

The AITA says a bit of red tape has resulted in this confusion since the sports ministry wanted the players to submit bills for the amounts they have spent on the training. Whereas the players say they don't have the bills. Hopefully bureaucratic procedures won't cost India the prospect of at least 2 medals from Men's tennis.

Advertisement