Olympic Happiness and Controversy

Written by: Staff on 27th June 2012

Olympic Happiness and Controversy

epa03282324 Lleyton Hewitt of Australia argues a call as he takes on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France during their first round match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 26 June 2012. EPA/GERRY PENNY |

The Olympic teams were announced on Tuesday, with some players overjoyed that they were given wild cards and some upset that they didn’t get their just do. Austrian Tamira Paszek, who just won Eastbourne , was not named as she did not fulfill her Olympic eligibility requirements. Australian Lleyton Hewitt was named in singles, but did not get the call in doubles.

” I am disappointed,” Hewitt said. “I can’t work that out for the life of me. I guess playing as much Davis Cup as you do doesn’t count for everything.”

Britain ’s Elena Baltacha received one, which wasn’t stunning given that the Olympics will be played in London , but still the veteran was thrilled

“I was very, very emotional at the end, especially with [Fed Cup captain Judy [ Murray ],” Baltacha said after her first round win at Wimbledon . “It was just amazing news. I think that’s why we both just started crying our eyes out, I just can’t explain to you how amazing it feels all my hard work over the last so many years and all the time I have played Fed Cup. Everything has just been so, so worth it.”

Most of the controversy lay in India, where Sania Mirza, who was given an Olympic wild card in doubles but not in singles, sent out a long public statement where she scolded the All India Tennis Association (AITA) and male players Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi for treating her like a piece of “bait.”

Mirza who is a standout mixed player, was offered up as mixed doubles partner to Paes after Bhupathi and his regular partner Rohan Bopanna refused to play with Paes and said they might boycott the games. After being pushed to the wall, AITA announced that Mirza would play with Paes if he consented to playing men’s doubles with the inexperienced Vishnu Vardhan. Mirza just won the Roland Garros mixed with Bhupathi and was told what she had to do before she even received a wild card or was consulted about it.

“To Dr. Vece Paes [Leanders’ father], who on camera asked me to give in writing about my intention of partnering his son for the mixed doubles event at the Olympics, I would like to point out that my commitment is to my country. For the sake of India I am committed to play with Leander Paes or Mahesh Bhupathi or Rohan Bopanna or Somdev Devvarman or Vishnu Vardhan or any other person that my country feels I am good enough to partner. There should never ever be a question on this although if asked, I am entitled to have my preferences. I will do everything possibly can to win a medal for India .”

“To Leander Paes I would like to point out that Vishnu Vardhan is an extremely talented player, who I had the privilege of partnering. For Leander to consider partnering with Vishnu only if he has a written assurance from me to play mixed is, I think demeaning for me, Vishnu and Leander Paes.

”Mahesh Bhupathi has firmly stood by his commitment to play together with his men’s doubles partner, Rohan Bopanna as he genuinely believed it was good for India. However, in the process, he sacrificed the commitment he made to me to try and win an Olympic medal together for India .”

Mirza, who is a Muslim woman living in majority Hindu country and who is married to a Pakistani cricketer, is considered a trailblazer in her sometimes conservative nation. The 25-year-old now owns a house in Dubai and considers herself to be a forward thinking person.

“As an Indian woman belonging to the 21st century, what I find disillusioning is the humiliating manner in which I was put up as a bait to try and pacify one of the disgruntled stalwarts of Indian tennis,” she said. “While I feel honored and privileged to have been chosen to partner Leander Paes, the manner and timing of the announcement reaks of male chauvinism where a two time Grand Slam champion, who has been India’s number 1 women’s tennis player for almost a decade in singles and doubles is offered in compensation to partner one of the feuding champions purely in order to lure him into accepting to play with a men’s player he does not wish to play with! This kind of blatant humiliation of Indian womanhood needs to be condemned even if it comes from the highest controlling body of tennis in our country. ”

Mirza added that her career-best singles ranking of No. 27 has been only bettered by Vijay Amritraj (16) and Ramesh Krishnan (23), and said that her career best doubles ranking of No. 7 in the world, has only been bettered by Paes Bhupathi

“I am the only Grand Slam champion from India apart from Mahesh and Leander,” she said. “I believe I can expect a little more respect from the National Tennis Federation than what has been accorded to me even if they did not think it necessary to send me a simple congratulatory message after I had won my second Grand Slam title 3 weeks ago.??What is even more shocking is the manner in which facts have been misrepresented to the public at large to paint a totally wrong picture in an attempt to justify the breaking up of a team that won a second Grand Slam title only days earlier.”

Topics: Davis Cup, Elena Baltacha, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, Lleyton Hewitt, Sania Mirza, Tamira Paszek, Tennis News, Wimbledon 2012