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Tennis courts: Another scam?
The contract for relaying the surface at the Commonwealth Games tennis venue was bagged by international firm Rebound Ace, whose India representative is Aditya Khanna. Sukhwant Basra reports.
The contract for relaying the surface at the Commonwealth Games tennis venue was bagged by international firm Rebound Ace, whose India representative is Aditya Khanna.
He happens to be the son of All India Tennis Association secretary Anil Khanna.
"There is no conflict," insisted Anil Khanna.
"Neither the tennis association nor I had any say in the matter. According to the sports ministry's directions, it was the Delhi Development Authority that decided who the contract should go to."
He said his son's firm had not been paid a paisa.
"The total amount of Rs 1.19 crore for the winning bid will be paid directly to Rebound Ace Australia."
Meanwhile, India's leading tennis players are unhappy with the relaid synthetic surface, which is believed to increase injury risk and was rejected by the Australian Open three years ago.
"That surface is known to put extra pressure on the ankle and knee joints. It also gets kind of sticky when hot and that puts a lot of extra load on the legs," said Leander Paes.
"It's a tried and failed surface," said Mahesh Bhupathi.
