Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi to play in Olympics together

New Delhi: The All India Tennis Association (AITA) will send only one men’s doubles tennis team to London for the July Olympics and Indian stars Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will just have to play together as that team despite stated differences, say sources.Paes, a high number 7 in ATP doubles rankings, is the only Indian tennis player who directly qualifies for the Olympics. But Bhupathi, who is just back after winning the mixed doubles French Open title partnering ace Sania Mirza, has reportedly conveyed to the association that he would rather partner Rohan Bopanna for the London 2012 Games. The sources say the selectors, who meet in Bangalore today, are clear that they are focused on quality, not quantity and would like to send a winning team to London. Paes and Bhupathi for years have been India’s most prolific doubles combination, but the relationship has been marred by many splits and they have been much more apart than together as years have gone by.    Officially Bhupathi insists that he has not refused to partner Paes in the Olympics and will only comment after the team is announced. But sources say he is upset that he and Paes might be forced to partner and is considering asking the government to intervene. Mahesh Bhupathi had written to the Indian Tennis Association before the Beijing Olympics in 2008 too stating that he did not want to play with Paes as he was better prepared with Rohan Bopanna. The AITA had shot down his demand then and asked the duo to ensure that their differences did not hurt India’s medal chances. They had joined hands for the Olympics and advanced to the quarterfinals where they were beaten by Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka.