In pursuit of elusive medal

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have experience on their side. The Indian duo is capable of winning a medal in Beijing, writes Kamesh Srinivasan.

One big problem with Indian sports is that we don’t often pull together as a team. Take for instance Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, there has never been any doubt about the duo’s world-beating capabilities, but it has been a huge task to get them to play together in Beijing — their fourth Olympics together.

Playing in just two tournaments together — they made the final of one, albeit on grass — in Holland the week before Wimbledon, is no way to prepare for the Olympics. However, the argument is that since Leander and Mahesh have not been in good terms and have lost mutual trust, it would only be counter-productive to make them play too many events together.

Leander, aged 35, and Mahesh, aged 34, have a wealth of experience behind them. They have the advantage of being ranked in the top-15 in the world.

While Mahesh, a 10-time Grand Slam champion, had entered the doubles semifinals at the Australian Open this season in the company of Mark Knowles of Bahamas, Leander, teaming up with Lukas Dlouhy of Czech Republic, entered the round of four at Wimbledon, losing to the eventual champions, Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic, 6-8 in the fifth set.

Leander and Mahesh missed a match point in their first round loss to Daniel Nestor and Frederic Niemeyer of Canada in Indianapolis in the super tie-break recently. Nestor is the world No.1 doubles player, while his partner is ranked No. 504! The pair will also be playing in the Olympics.

The other formidable doubles teams at the Games will be the Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, Israel’s Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram, who won the Australian Open, the defending champions, Nicolas Massu and Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra of France, Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia. The super Serbs, Novak Djokovic and Nenad Zimonjic — a fine combination of a classy singles player and a doubles specialist — will also be playing in Beijing.

Besides Djokovic, there will be other top singles stars competing in doubles such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Lleyton Hewitt, David Nalbandian, Nicolas Kiefer and James Blake.

Leander and Mahesh missed the bronze in the last Olympics in Athens following an unforgettable fight against the Croats, Ancic and Ljubicic, 14-16 in the third set. This time, the Indian duo could win a medal provided it retains its focus.

Leander and Mahesh together have won Grand Slam events. They are still capable of winning a few more, but what is really missing in their cabinet is an Olympic medal, which the two are really capable of winning in Beijing.

Leander, of course, had won the singles bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, but the crowning moment of the Indian pair’s brilliant career would be an Olympic medal.