AITA asks the current squad to play against Japan, defers decision on ‘uprising’ till after the Olympics.
 
Sukhwant Basra

New Delhi: Taking a hard stance against the dissenting players the AITA on Thursday put its weight behind captain Leander Paes. While saying that the decision has been ‘put into abeyance’ the federation has basically served the rebels an ultimatum.

“The AITA will decide on this issue after the Beijing Olympics in August. We want the players to get together and play against Japan in what is a great opportunity for India to get into the Davis Cup world group. The AITA also wants our legendary players Mahesh (Bhupathi) and Leander (Paes) to put their differences aside and play in the Olympics together,” said secretary Anil Khanna, after the apex tennis body’s executive and selection committee met.

The AITA is obviously not willing to take any direct call that would make it appear to be taking sides in the issue. The decision to put it on the backburner basically puts the ball in the court of the rebels. If they decide to not play the tie against Japan they risk being labelled as the villains who put self before country while the federation can easily defend itself by saying that all we asked for was to put nation before self.

“All issues will be addressed by the committee already set up to look into forming a code of conduct for the players. A two-member committee is being formed to talk to the players about their grievances,” is the mumbo-jumbo that Khanna peddled to the media while announcing the appointment of SP Mishra as manager for the Japan tie - an attempt at catering to the appeal for a non-playing captain.

That the AITA reached this decision without talking to the players who have expressed grievances is an obvious indicator that the association has chosen to support Paes. Members of the body present at the meeting say that the decision was unanimous and there was no talk of even questioning the issue of replacing Paes. The AITA views this as a threat to its authority and it is obvious that the aggrieved faction left themselves little room by leaking information to the press - a move that the body interprets as blackmail.

The players have been served a gag order by the body till ‘we present before them the full circumstances and reasons for these decisions’. Paes’s complete silence on the issue has worked in his favour even as the rebels have weakened their own case by making strong statements in the press. That has allowed concretisation of the view within the federation that Paes is the victim in this whole issue. That not a single member present chose to even bring up some of the genuine issues of the rebels is an indicator as to just how much of a Davis Cup icon Paes is in this country. AITA has chosen to play along with popular sentiment and face-saving measures instead of a clinical review.

India may well look to a new team in the tie against Japan as the rebels have already put themselves into a corner being categorical that they would not play under Paes.

Source : DNA