It is very reminiscent of the 1988 Olympics, when Ashwini Nachappa had to take a "trial" at the last moment to see if she was fit enough to run in the relay squad. Nachappa shed tears and the rest is history.
Tonight, in Doha, if Mahesh Bhupathi goes to bed and doesn’t catch a wink's sleep, be sure it is for no fault of his. After the Bangalorean and Leander Paes lost to Chinese Taipei pair of Wang Yeu Tzauoo and Lu Yen Hsun 2-6, 3-6, all kinds of irresponsible statements have been doing the rounds.
The end result: Those in charge of the team — playing captain Leander Paes and Nandan Bal — think Mahesh is not fully fit and he will now have to play a practice match on Wednesday before the nomination for the men's doubles is made.
The story of this edition of the Asiad was supposed to have been Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi playing possibly one last time for the country. And that, because, Mahesh has made it clear he will not be part of the Davis Cup squad from 2007. Going by all accounts, it is clear, Leander, gunning for gold in his fourth Asian Games, does not want to play with Mahesh.
"I just feel that Hesh (Bhupathi) should be honest with himself, his injuries and his tennis. I have tremendous respect for him; he's a fantastic player and has done a lot for the country.
{{/usCountry}}"I just feel that Hesh (Bhupathi) should be honest with himself, his injuries and his tennis. I have tremendous respect for him; he's a fantastic player and has done a lot for the country.
{{/usCountry}}But, at the moment, he needs to be honest with himself, the way he's playing, the way his career's going and also with his responsibility to the team," Paes told a TV channel after their loss in the team event on Monday.
"I just felt that Mahesh wasn't reaching the ball enough. As a combination, they weren't rusty, so I just got the feeling that sometimes Mahesh wasn't reaching the ball. Volleys were going past him, he's not getting to it, not bending down low," added Bal.
When HT contacted AITA secretary Anil Khanna, he was surprised. "I have not seen anything in papers here," he said from Doha. When told about the comments, Khanna did step in to do some fire-fighting.
It is rumoured that a "fitness test" was planned for Mahesh, and it was to be conducted by Vece Paes on Tuesday. But with Leander himself not fully fit, such "tests" would have become bit of a joke.
Mahesh initially refused to react to the allegations, but finally said: "My back is sore but the doctor says it is nothing serious. I came here to play the doubles event with Leander."
When Mahesh was asked to react to all the drama in Doha, and the trial match, possibly against Rohan Bopanna and Mustafa Ghouse, he said: "This is the story of my life, dude. Nobody can question my commitment when it comes to national duty. I would be the last person to carry an injury just to play another match at this stage of my career."
It may be recalled that, in September, Mahesh had told the AITA he was not keen on playing at the Asian Games, but relented after pressure from several quarters. And for all those saying that Mahesh could not hold serve once on Monday, here is another bit of statistics. The only time Leander held his serve, he was down 0-40!