PUNE: When the Olympics is around, controversy can never be far from Indian tennis.
Even when players have not entered the event.
On Monday, Rohan Bopanna accused the All India Tennis Association (AITA) of misleading "the players, government, media and everyone else" by saying that he and Sumit Nagal had "a good chance" of making the Olympics cut instead of the original nomination of Bopanna-Divij Sharan.
"ITF has never accepted an entry for Sumit Nagal & myself. ITF was clear that no changes were allowed after the nomination deadline (22nd June) unless Injury/Illness. AITA has mislead the players, government, media and everyone else by stating we still have a chance," Bopanna wrote.
Speaking to TOI, Bopanna explained: "Once Sumit got in, Mr. Dhupar (AITA honorary secretary Anil Dhupar) wrote to me saying 'we have withdrawn' our nomination.
"But unless there is an injury to one of us, the nomination cannot be changed. In fact, the ITF wrote back to me yesterday saying 'we are not able to change the nomination'.
"Any change should have been done before June 16, the deadline for changing nominations."
The tweet generated a buzz with former and current stars commenting or retweeting, adding fuel to the fire.
AITA was not amused.
"His statement was most unwanted," Dhupar said.
"Before Sumit got in, they (Bopanna and Sharan) had no chance of entering. We wrote to the ITF asking to withdraw Divij and, if rules permit, change the nomination.
"The ITF wrote back saying it was not possible. That is all, what wrong did we do?
"With Divij (as partner), he was fifth out. With Sumit, he was third out. Didn't we do him a favour by trying to bring him two spots closer?
"We are trying to push his case. He didn't qualify by his ranking.
"He doesn't know what I have written to the ITF. He should get his facts before (posting)."
