Mixed doubles, mixed feelings: Is it Paes or Bhupathi with Sania for London Olympics?

June 13, 2012

Sania_olympics

Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza's win in the French Open gives a fresh twist to India's London challenge. India's best chance for a medal in tennis, after all, is in the mixed doubles and not in the men's doubles.

An Olympic field is stronger than a Grand Slam lineup in doubles. In the majors all the top singles players sit out of doubles. In the Olympics, where the country equation comes into play, singles stars figure prominently in the doubles field.

Some of the likely combinations for London are Rafael Nadal and Marcel Granollers; Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka; Janko Tipsarevic and Nenad Zimonjic; Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga; the Murray brothers Andy and Jamie; Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek.


However, most of the top guns are likely to sit out the mixed doubles as three competitions in eight days would make it one event too many.

The All India Tennis Association is pushing for a wildcard for Sania in either singles or doubles so that she'll be eligible to play the mixed doubles. Not that the competition will be any lighter here with Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi; Serena Williams and Bob Bryan; Petra Kvitova and Radek Stepanek; Nenad Zimonjic and Ana Ivanovic likely to feature in the competition, but India has a committed combination in Bhupathi and Sania, who have won two Grand Slam titles together, the second one coming less than a week ago.

Still, AITA's selection committee, which meets in Bangalore on June 15, will debate who Sania should partner should the wildcard come through. Bhupathi, with eight Grand Slam mixed doubles crowns to his credit, should be the automatic choice for a number of reasons.

Paes, with six mixed Slam titles, is the option, but the fact that he also plays the forehand court, which is Sania's strength, works against the pairing.

Besides, Bhupathi and Sania have been playing together for a while now are great friends and work well as a team. Their combined ranking of 26 (Sania is ranked No.12 and Bhupathi No. 14) would help them make the cut.


Bhupathi, however, can play the mixed event only if he plays the doubles - with either Bopanna (they make the cut comfortably) or Paes.


Who India will field in men's doubles will be the focal point of the selection committee meeting later this week. If the selectors go with Bhupathi and Bopanna, they could field a second team with the No.7 ranked Paes playing with a partner of his choice.


India's best bet for a medal in the men's doubles at the Olympics was always going to be Lee-Hesh. Despite their lack of success in the Olympics, where they've played together four times, the old boys could've pulled off a trick or two at the All England Club in July. What they have is history. What they lack is trust.



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News Network
July 16,2020

Kolkata, Jul 16: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday went into home quarantine after his elder brother and Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) joint secretary Snehasish Ganguly tested positive for Covid-19.

Snehasish, a former Bengal first-class player, has been admitted to the Belle Vue hospital in Kolkata after his COVID report came positive.

"He was suffering from fever for the last few days and his test report came positive today. He's been admitted to Belle Vue Hospital," a CAB official said.

"The reports arrived late in the evening. As per health protocols, even Sourav will have to be in home quarantine for a stipulated period," a source close to the BCCI President added.

Snehasish had shifted to their ancestral house, where Sourav is based, in Behala after his wife and in-laws at his Mominpur residence tested positive for the dreaded virus.

The former India captain was, however, unavailable for a comment on the development.

Recently, during an interview to India Today, Sourav had spoken about how life around him has changed, making people more vulnerable.

"My brother visits our factories everyday and he is more at risk," the former batting star had said

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News Network
July 21,2020

Melbourne, Jul 21: Cricket Australia's chief executive Nick Hockley has said that the Indian players and staff will most likely be asked to face two weeks of quarantine before the four-match Test series.

This scenario will bring the Adelaide Oval and its newly constructed hotel firmly into view as the sort of biosecure bubble, ESPNCricinfo reported.

India and Australia are slated to face each other in a four-match Test series, which is to begin from December 4 at Brisbane.

"The two-week quarantine is pretty well-defined. What we are working on is making sure that even within that quarantine environment, the players have got the absolute best training facilities, so that their preparation for the matches is as optimal as it can possibly be," ESPNCricinfo quoted Hockey as saying.

"Certainly the fact that the Adelaide Oval has a hotel. It does provide a facility not dissimilar to Old Trafford or Ageas Bowl where the hotels are integrated into the venue," he added.

Hockley also said that an exacting standard of biosecurity and testing would be applied before the series against India as the coronavirus cases are spiking in the subcontinent.

"It's widely known and it's unlikely that international travel restrictions would have lifted by the time that India will be due to come into the country. Clearly there will be testing regimes. We will be able to test people before that they get on to the plane and it is the nature of the situation of making sure we have the quarantine arrangements in line with government and health authority protocols," Hockley said.

"The key thing for the players is that there's regular testing and that we appropriately quarantine them when they come in and all of those plans are currently in development," he added.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday announced the postponement of the T20 World Cup 2020 slated to be held in Australia from October 18-November 15 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Following the announcement, the BCCI is likely to go ahead with the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the October-November window. However, it is known where the T20 tournament will be played as cases continue to rise in India.
"I think the BCCI has made no secrets that they are considering what that means for the IPL. For us, it's about getting a bit of an understanding and certainty around what that means. Clearly, in a normal course, some of our best players are obviously top picks for those IPL teams," Hockley said.

"It's a bit premature to speculate on that. We need to understand what the plans are if any and once we understand that we will make decisions accordingly," he added.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

New Delhi, Aug 6: The BCCI on Thursday suspended the IPL title sponsorship deal with Chinese mobile phone company Vivo for the event's upcoming edition amid heightened tensions in Sino-India diplomatic ties.

The BCCI sent out a one-line statement, without giving details, saying that Vivo would not be associated with the IPL this year. "The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and vivo Mobile India Pvt Ltd have decided to suspend their partnership for Indian Premier League in 2020," the statement said.

Meanwhile, Vivo released its own statement saying that the two entities "have mutually decided to pause their partnership for the 2020 season".

Vivo won the IPL title sponsorship rights for five years from 2018 to 2022 for a reported sum of Rs 2,190 crore, approximately Rs 440 crore per annum.

The two parties are now working out a plan in which Vivo might come back for a fresh three-year period starting 2021 on revised terms.

However, a top BCCI official offered a different view. "Here we are talking about diplomatic tensions and you expect that after November, when IPL ends and before the next IPL starts in April 2021, there would be no anti-China sentiment? Are we serious?" a veteran BCCI official said on conditions of anonymity.

The anti-China sentiment in the country peaked after the violent face-off between the Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh. India lost 20 soldiers in the clash, while China also acknowledged unspecified casualties.

The stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) caused outrage across India with several calls for boycotts of Chinese companies and products.

The BCCI is now likely to float a tender for new IPL title sponsors as mandated by its constitution. The glitzy T20 league starts on Sept. 19 in the UAE, forced out of India due to the rising COVID-19 cases.

The new development is in stark contrast to what came out of Sunday's IPL's Governing Council meeting, where it was decided that Vivo, along with all the other sponsors, will remain on board.

This was after the BCCI had announced in June that all sponsorship deals pertaining to IPL will be reviewed in the aftermath of the clash in the Galwan Valley.

However, after Sunday's meeting, there was a huge backlash on social media about the BCCI holding on to Vivo.

Both parties then began thrashing out an amicable separation plan, at least for this season.

However, the end of this deal could spell losses for the franchises as they get a substantial share from the sponsorship pool. Half of the annual Vivo sponsorship money is distributed equally among eight franchises, which comes to Rs 27.5 crore.

"As of now, it will be very difficult for the BCCI to match the sponsorship amount at such short notice. Therefore, both BCCI and the franchises should be prepared to lose out on some money -- BCCI more but each franchise from Vivo's exit will potentially lose 15 crore," the official said.

"This year will be difficult for everyone but the show must go on," the official said.

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