Zeenews Sports Bureau

New Delhi: Row over the selection of Indian tennis doubles team escalated as Mahesh Bhupathi refused to partner Leander Paes for the London Olympics after All India Tennis Association decided to go ahead with Paes-Bhupathi combination, according to reports.

Leander Paes has earned a direct entry by virtue of being ranked among top-10 and he prefers playing with Rohan Bopanna. However, the latter wants to stick to Bhupathi, which put the AITA in a sticky wicket.

Earlier, AITA has hinted at fielding only one team for the doubles in the Olympics.

“Someone is going to get hurt, we’ll find out who. It’s unfortunate that we have three great doubles players but one of them will miss out on the Olympics,” a member of the selection committee was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

“Only if you play Rohan and Mahesh together can you send two teams, but that would mean leaving Leander, who has earned the right to play, in the lurch, without a good partner. Now our idea is to decide on one good team, without thinking how we can send everybody,” the selector said.