‘Seven-up’ Leander has Games in blood

Unhappy experience

RIO DE JANEIRO, July 28, (AFP): For India’s Leander Paes, the Olympics run in the family and his record seventh appearance at the Games represents another landmark in a career which has straddled three bruising decades.

The 43-year-old jokes that he was even conceived during the Olympics — in 1972 in Munich where his father Vece played in India’s bronze-medal winning hockey team and mother Jennifer played in the basketball.

Paes himself went on to win a bronze medal in singles at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Four years later, he carried his country’s flag at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics.

“I love playing for the country. I love playing for our people,” said Paes.

Despite his fondness for playing for India, it has not always been an easy ride for Paes.

The veteran has been paired with Rohan Bopanna in the men’s doubles in Rio despite his higher-ranked partner wanting to play originally with Saketh Myneni.

Paes was slotted in at the insistence of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) in a row which had echos of a farce before the 2012 London Olympics 2012.

Back then, Mahesh Bhupathi was teamed with Bopanna in the men’s doubles despite Paes being in the top 10.

As part of a compromise, Paes, who had threatened to pull out of the Games, reluctantly played with Vishnu Vardhan in the men’s doubles while being controversially teamed with Sania Mirza in the mixed.

It was an unhappy experience all round.

Paes and Vardhan, who was ranked just below 300 in the world at the time, exited in the second round as did Bhupathi and Bopanna.

Paes and Mirza made it to the quarterfinals in the mixed, losing to eventual champions Max Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka.