The Indian tennis contingent for the upcoming Asian games was dealt a huge blow when Leander Paes pulled out of the event. A seething Paes walked away from the team when he was disappointed with the selectors for not picking a doubles specialist to play with him.
However, this has certainly thrown the plans set by coach Zeeshan Ali out of place as he revealed that he did make an attempt to convince the veteran to stay put.
"It is obviously very disappointing to not to have Leander. It is a big blow to us. But then again he is a complete professional. It is his decision completely and his patriotism for the country cannot be questioned," Ali told PTI before a practice session.
Ali further said that he is now more concerned about fixing the doubles combination but conceded that the team would definitely miss the service and experience of Paes on the court, especially with a young team at his disposal.
"I think it makes a big a difference to us in the mixed doubles. Who would play with Rohan and Leander could have been decided only once he came. Now it is a different team we would be looking at. The tough bit is that everyone's playing styles are different. Most likely Divij will replace Paes in the mixed doubles," Ali said.
Ali further added that he does not enough time to experiment and any arrangement would have been a stopgap as the deadline to submit the rejigged names expires on August 18 at 10 am.
The coach said that he did try to convince Paes but then his commitment towards the country should not be questioned. He further lamented that had this development taken place 10 days earlier, he could have mustered a specialist doubles team for the event.
Sounding optimistic about fielding a team, Zeeshan said that he is only disappointed because as per the current situation, India would not be able to field a second specialist doubles team.
