Bhupathi Sr slams AITA

July 18: The All India Tennis Association secretary-general Ramesh Desai was non-committal about the criticism levelled at the AITA by CGK ...

July 18: The All India Tennis Association secretary-general Ramesh Desai was non-committal about the criticism levelled at the AITA by CGK Bhupathi, ex-player and father of Indian Davis Cup member Mahesh Bhupathi, for AITA’s refusal to hold the two ATP Challengers sanctioned in favour of his predecessor, PL Reddy.

Bhupathi said in Bangalore today that players’ interest should be given complete importance and mere technicalities should not be the governing factor for holding the tournament.

He hoped that the two ATP Challengers awarded to Reddy are held as scheduled so that Indian players could gain some valuable ranking points. Desai had stated on Thursday that its Tamil Nadu and Gujarat units had declined to host the Chennai and Ahmedabad Challengers as they were sanctioned to Reddy and not the Association as per AITA regulations.

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Desai also said that the AITA executive was yet to meet after Mahesh Bhupathi became the first Indian to win a Grand Slam title when he won the French Open mixed doubles tennis crown with Japanese Raika Hiraki.

Desai was reacting to Bhupathi’s criticism that his son Mahesh did not receive even a “penny” from the AITA as an incentive for achieving the feat while Hiraki received $1.5 million from the Japanese tennis federation.Desai could not say whether the issue would be discussed at the AITA meeting. The AITA executive committee meeting and annual general meeting is to be held at Indore next month.