London Olympic: India to Send 2 Men's Tennis Teams

The All Indian Tennis Association (AITA) on June 21, 2012 has finally ended the long-standing feud between its two star players by announcing that it will be sending two men's doubles teams to the London Olympic, where Leander Paes will partner Vishnu Vardhan and Mahesh Bhupathi will team up with Rohan Bopanna.

The AITA also said that Leander Paes and Sania Mirza will pair in the mixed doubles if Sania gets a wild card in doubles.

“The best option for AITA is to send two teams to the Olympics. AITA does not want Leander's image to be tarnished. We request Leander to forgive the utterances of certain players," AITA president Anil Khann said.

Both Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna had earlier written to AITA stating that they don’t want to partner Leander Paes. The tennis association originally wanted Leander Paes to be paired with Mahesh Bhupathi. However, after his refusal they asked Rohan Bopanna to partner Paes but he also declined.

Leander Paes is currently ranked World No. 7 in doubles and qualifies directly for the Games while Mahesh Bhupathi is ranked at 15.