Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Indian tennis great and two-time Asian Games gold medallist Rohan Bopanna has questioned the changes made to India’s tennis squad for the 2026 Asian Games. Bopanna believes players who earned their places through international performances should have been given the opportunity to compete in Japan.
Five players who had qualified were affected by the changes after the selection process followed the Sports Ministry’s rule restricting participation to players ranked among the top eight in Asia. Speaking in a statement posted on LinkedIn, Bopanna criticised the decision and questioned its wider impact on the players, their families and sponsors.
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“I’m a proud Indian. And today, I want to speak up for these tennis players who deserve better. They didn’t ask for mercy. They asked for a chance.
“Dhamne. Adkar. Yamalapalli. Vaidehee. Thombare. Five players, including India’s No. 1 and No. 2 in women’s singles, who earned their rankings the hard way. No shortcuts. No favors. They competed internationally, qualified, and proved where they stand,” Bopanna said.
“Now a committee that never stood where they stood has decided their fate on paper, before a ball is struck. If outcomes are already decided, why have qualification at all? Why rankings?”
The former world No. 1 doubles player also argued that the decision goes beyond the five athletes and could influence how parents and sponsors view the country’s sporting system.
“This isn’t just a call about five athletes. It’s a message to every parent, every sponsor who backed them before the country did, who bet on merit and results, not on being pre approved. Telling these players they’re ‘not medal prospects’ tells every one of those parent & sponsors: your judgment doesn’t matter here,” he added.
BOPANNA QUESTIONS THE SELECTION PROCESS
Bopanna further stressed that sporting outcomes cannot always be determined by rankings or predictions made before athletes get onto the court.
“Sport is the one arena where belief outruns prediction, where the written off rewrite the script. You don’t build a sporting nation, or a sporting economy, by deciding in a boardroom who’s allowed to compete,” he said.
“Let them walk onto the court. Let their years of work count for something. Let sport decide. Not a spreadsheet.”
The five players at the centre of the controversy are Sahaja Yamalapalli, Vaishnavi Adkar, Manas Dhamne, Prarthana Thombare and Vaidehee Chaudhari.
INDIA’S ASIAN GAMES TENNIS SQUAD
India’s final tennis contingent includes three singles players in both the men’s and women’s sections, along with three doubles players in each category. There are also three men’s reserves and two women’s reserves.
Men’s:
- Singles: Sumit Nagal, Manas Dhamne, Dhakshineswar Suresh
- Doubles: Yuki Bhambri, N Sriram Balaji, Anirudh Chandrasekar
- Reserves: Karan Singh, Rithvik Bollipalli, Niki Poonacha
Women’s:
- Singles: Sahaja Yamalapalli, Vaishnavi Adkar, Vaidehi Chaudhari
- Doubles: Rutuja Bhosale, Prarthana Thombare, Ankita Raina
- Reserves: Zeel Desai, Shruti Ahlawat
The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games begin on September 19, 2026, and run until October 4. Tennis will be among the sports where India will look to add to its 34 Asian Games medals, including 10 golds, in a discipline that has consistently delivered for the country.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
