The country’s tennis stars — Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Somdev Devvarman and Rohan Bopanna — on Friday threatened to pull out of the Delhi Commonwealth Games if they “were not paid their dues”, a move that jeopardises India’s run in tennis.
In a letter to the All-India Tennis Association (AITA), the players asked for pending dues to be paid by next month. Association secretary-general Anil Khanna later said talks with the sports ministry were on and the matter would be resolved.
The Games have already lost sheen with big names like Usain Bolt and former Grand Slam champion Lleyton Hewitt dropping out.
The ministry had sanctioned AITA close to Rs 21 crores (over three years) for the Games’ preparations of the core tennis probables. But except for a nominal sum to Bhupathi, no other player has received a penny. “We have received only Rs 4 to 5 crores, and not Rs 21 crores as sanctioned by the ministry. The AITA does not have enough money to pay the players,” AITA media manager Ranbir Chauhan told this paper.