Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes will be teaming up again for the Thai Open to be played next week,’’ informed Krishna Bhupathi, father and coach of Mahesh, here on Thursday.But he was non-committal when asked — the most important question — if the Lee-Hesh pair are back together for good. ‘‘Right now all I can tell you is that they will be playing Thai Open together,’’ he reiterated. ‘‘Both Leander and Bhupathi are committed to David (Rikl) and Max (Mirnyi), their respective doubles partners, for this year. But since David and Max are not available for Thai Open, Leander and Mahesh have decided to team up again,’’ Krishna said.Here in the city for a four-day coaching programme organised by the Ahmedabad Government Employees’ Tennis Association (AGETA), Krishna said that the loss of the Lee-Hesh pair in the semi-final of the Athens Olympics was a result of a one-off bad day in the office.‘‘Till the semi-final, they had a wonderful run defeating the likes of (Andy) Roddick-(Mardy) Fish, (Roger) Federer-(Yves) Allegro and the Zimbabwean pair. But I feel that the pressure of the medal match and the anxiety led to their downfall. In fact the match was over even before it began.’’‘‘But the major disappointment was their loss in the match for bronze medal. Here was a pair, who were favourites to win gold but they did not win even bronze. They played really well in this match, but somehow they lost it almost as if Maradona’s Hand of God was acting against them,’’ he said.Krishna, however, said he did not believe that Lee-Hesh pair had joined forces a tad too late in the day, which did not give them enough time to gel. ‘‘After their first round in Athens, I knew that they have gelled and have found their touch. If they hadn’t gelled they would not have defeated the likes of Federer and Roddick,’’ asserted Krishna.
