Paes refuses to share flat with Bopanna in Olympic village

TIL Desk Sports/ With just two days to go for the 2016 Rio Olympics, tennis player Rohan Bopanna, who is to pair with Leander Paes in the men’s doubles event, is forced to train with others because Leander has yet to arrive in Rio de Janeiro. Paes, according to sources, he has informed the Indian Olympic Association that he doesn’t wish to share a flat with Bopanna at the Olympic Village.

The two reportedly don’t share any camaraderie, especially since Bopanna announced Saketh Myneni as his doubles partner, before the All Indian Tennis Association (AITA) ruled in favour of Leander. It must be noted that Sania Mirza too ignored Paes, who will play his seventh Olympics, as her mixed doubles partner and picked Bopanna.

Paes aside, the entire Indian contingent arrived in Rio on August 1 to begin their preparations for the Games beginning on Thursday. When contacted, Leander’s father Vece Paes, a former Olympic medal winner himself in hockey, came out in his son’s defence. “Leander is en route to Rio and is reaching this evening,” he said. The senior Paes also suggested that Leander is only late by half a day, in line with what was decided by the team during last month’s Davis Cup tie in Chandigarh.