NEW DELHI: The row over India’s tennis squad for the 2026 Asian Video games intensified on Tuesday after the All India Tennis Affiliation (AITA) categorically rejected claims that it did not submit the names of excluded gamers to the Indian Olympic Affiliation (IOA).The nationwide federation denied a declare made by Sports activities Authority of India (SAI) supply to information company PTI that the omitted gamers — Manas Dhamne, Sahaja Yamalapalli, Vaishnavi Adkar, Vaidehee Chaudhari and Prarthana Thombare — didn’t characteristic within the shortlist forwarded by AITA to the IOA, and subsequently have been absent from the ultimate checklist thought of by the Sports activities Ministry.Nevertheless, TimesofIndia.com has accessed the letter dated July 3 which was despatched to the IOA CEO Raghuram Iyer the place deserves of every participant, together with current historical past, was talked about.AITA acknowledged that Secretary Basic Sunder Iyer had written to Iyer on July 3, making an “pressing illustration searching for overview of the exclusion of tennis gamers from the Indian contingent” and particularly naming Dhamne, Ankita Raina, Yamalapalli, Chaudhari, Adkar and Thombare.Within the four-page letter despatched on July 3, accessed by TimesofIndia.com, AITA had argued that India ought to subject its strongest doable contingent and maximise medal alternatives throughout all 5 tennis occasions quite than relying solely on uniform rating standards.On Monday, as TimesofIndia.com reported, the Sports activities Ministry had caught by its choice coverage, which requires singles gamers to be amongst Asia’s prime six and doubles gamers to be contained in the continental top-eight over a 12-month analysis interval. The ministry has additionally maintained that the factors is not going to be relaxed regardless of criticism made by two-time Asian Video games medallist Rohan Bopanna.
AITA’s case for the quartet
The federation’s illustration highlighted that India had earned a number of robust acceptance-list positions in doubles occasions.AITA mentioned India had three blended doubles pairs contained in the top-eight accepted entries — Rutuja Bhosale/Yuki Bhambri (seeded No. 2), Ankita Raina/N. Sriram Balaji (No. 5) and Prarthana Thombare/Anirudh Chandrasekar (No. 8). Since every nation can enter solely two pairs, AITA argued this represented two real medal alternatives.It additionally identified that Thombare and Bhosale have been positioned at No. 10 on the ladies’s doubles acceptance checklist, with withdrawals doubtlessly opening the door to the principle draw. Excluding established doubles specialists, the federation mentioned, would weaken India’s medal prospects.For the singles occasions, AITA described Yamalapalli as India’s highest-ranked ladies’s singles participant, praised Adkar’s worldwide multi-sport credentials, backed Chaudhari’s consistency on tour and termed 18-year-old Dhamne one in all India’s brightest younger prospects whose Asian Video games participation would support each instant competitiveness and long-term Olympic improvement.The letter concluded by requesting the IOA to urgently overview the exclusions, reassess entries on an event-specific foundation and approve all six gamers to maximise India’s medal probabilities.
Ministry steadfast in exclusions
The controversy erupted after the exclusion of 5 gamers from the unique 12 member checklist drew criticism from two-time Asian Video games gold medallist Rohan Bopanna.Bopanna had mentioned that “a committee that by no means stood the place they stood has determined their destiny on paper, earlier than a ball is struck,” including that denying gamers the possibility to compete was towards the ideas of constructing a sporting nation.The Ministry, nonetheless, has maintained that current performances didn’t set up adequate medal likelihood and argued that creating discretionary exceptions for gamers ranked between twenty fifth and fortieth in Asia would undermine administrative integrity and invite litigation from different nationwide sports activities federations.India’s last tennis squad at present consists of Sumit Nagal in males’s singles, whereas Yuki Bhambri, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Saketh Myneni, Ankita Raina and Rutuja Bhosale have been chosen for the doubles occasions.
