Sania Mirza slips to 12th spot, depends on wild card for Olympics

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Sania Mirza on Monday slipped to 12th spot in the doubles list of the WTA charts, thus failing to secure the top-10 ranking that was needed to book a berth at the London Olympics.

Sania would now have to depend on a wild card to get an entry into the Games.

The top-10 rankings in doubles in both the men and women categories are eligible for direct qualification for the quadrennial event.

Today was the cut-off date set by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for direct qualification on the basis of the rankings.

Only Leander Paes, among the Indians, could get a direct entry at the London Games as he has managed to retain his seventh position in the ATP doubles rankings.

But who between Rohan Bopanna (12th ranking) and Mahesh Bhupathi (13th ranking) would partner Paes or whether India would field two teams during the Olympics, will be decided by the All India Tennis Association (AITA) selection committee, which is scheduled to meet on Friday.

The ITF, on its part, has set June 21 as the deadline to confirm the entry of eligible players for the Olympics.

AITA will try to get a wild card for Sania as she has failed to make it to the mega event on merit. Paraguay's Veronica Cepede Royg and Liechenstein's Stephanie Vogt have already been offered two of the four wild cards.

Meanwhile, even as Sania and Bhupathi's victory at the French Open mixed doubles event has made them the favourite pair to be fielded in London, Paes could still be chosen to team up with the Hyderabadi girl.