AITA playing ‘dirty politics’: Mahesh

Sep 18, 2012 |

mumbai

Tags:

Stung by the two-year ban imposed on him, veteran tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi on Tuesday hit back at the AITA, accusing the game's governing body of resorting to ‘divide-and-rule’ policy and said its ‘dictatorial attitude’ will be harmful for the future of Indian tennis.

A hurt Bhupathi made a scathing attack on AITA and its president Anil Khanna who, he alleged, was playing ‘dirty politics’ and creating rift among players, particularly between him and Leander Paes.

"Khanna has redefined the term divide and rule. The AITA and its dictatorial attitude, and its administration are harmful for the future of Indian tennis," Bhupathi said at a press conference here today where he also circulated his correspondence with the AITA ahead of the London Olympics.

The veteran tennis pro said he had no choice but to accept the ban but was now exploring legal options.

"My being termed a dictator is unacceptable to me. I don't know if we can do anything, but there is no option not to accept the ban. We will definitely pursue a legal route. (My) lawyers are deciding the course of action, can't say much now," he said.

Bhupathi minced no words has he launched an attack against Khanna. "He has redefined the term divide and rule and at this year's Olympics he used Leander's shoulder to fire the gun against me multiple times. Unfortunately the media terms this a Bhupathi-Paes rift and the true underbelly is left unquestioned."

"As far as I am concerned, I was always banned by the AITA, they never supported anything I did for the sport, only when they couldn't do without me and they needed the doubles point in Davis Cup, I got the email.

"They continue to misuse the power they have to try and teach me a lesson only because they feel I am able to do a lot more for the sports than they do and in the midst of all this, not only did we players suffer but so did the sport and in turn the country," he said.

Post new comment

<form action="/comment/reply/189898" accept-charset="UTF-8" method="post" id="comment-form"> <div><div class="form-item" id="edit-name-wrapper"> <label for="edit-name">Your name: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="60" name="name" id="edit-name" size="30" value="Reader" class="form-text required" /> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-mail-wrapper"> <label for="edit-mail">E-Mail Address: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="64" name="mail" id="edit-mail" size="30" value="" class="form-text required" /> <div class="description">The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.</div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-comment-wrapper"> <label for="edit-comment">Comment: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <textarea cols="60" rows="15" name="comment" id="edit-comment" class="form-textarea resizable required"></textarea> </div> <fieldset class=" collapsible collapsed"><legend>Input format</legend><div class="form-item" id="edit-format-1-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-1"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-1" name="format" value="1" class="form-radio" /> Filtered HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd></li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-format-2-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-2"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-2" name="format" value="2" checked="checked" class="form-radio" /> Full HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> </fieldset> <input type="hidden" name="form_build_id" id="form-2be7574c4a344450e9abe9f7a7a17ac1" value="form-2be7574c4a344450e9abe9f7a7a17ac1" /> <input type="hidden" name="form_id" id="edit-comment-form" value="comment_form" /> <fieldset class="captcha"><legend>CAPTCHA</legend><div class="description">This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.</div><input type="hidden" name="captcha_sid" id="edit-captcha-sid" value="80620175" /> <input type="hidden" name="captcha_response" id="edit-captcha-response" value="NLPCaptcha" /> <div class="form-item"> <div id="nlpcaptcha_ajax_api_container"><script type="text/javascript"> var NLPOptions = {key:'c4823cf77a2526b0fba265e2af75c1b5'};</script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://call.nlpcaptcha.in/js/captcha.js" ></script></div> </div> </fieldset> <span class="btn-left"><span class="btn-right"><input type="submit" name="op" id="edit-submit" value="Save" class="form-submit" /></span></span> </div></form>