AITA News

The Indian cricket team had last toured Pakistan in 2007, and after that, no team across any sport in the country has toured Pakistan.

Sharan had made his Davis Cup debut against New Zealand, playing the doubles rubber with Vishnu Vardhan, in India's 5-0 whitewash of the visitors.

 Veteran Leander Paes will have the opportunity to add to his Asian Games medal tally as he is set to be included in the Indian tennis team for the upcoming Games even as the country's premier singles player Yuki Bhambri will prefer competing in the US Open if he makes the cut.

The 32-year old Sharan is willing to rush to Tianjin for the April 6-7 tie in case his services are required but his decision has not gone down well with the AITA selection committee.

Tennis great Vijay Amritraj says there shouldn't be much controversy with regard to India's doubles combination in the Davis Cup since the doubles match matters only when there are "even singles matches".

Sending out a strong message that it won't allow players to interfere in selection matters, the AITA on Sunday brought back old warhorse Leander Paes in the Davis Cup team despite "reservations" from seasoned campaigner Rohan Bopanna.

The prize purse for the Canada tie was distributed equally among six players along with the captain and the coach, which means the players' share was reduced.

Regardless of all his words, Bopanna did take the opportunity to congratulate the 29-year-old on receiving the award. "I want to take this platform to congratulate Saketh Myneni on receiving this award. I couldn't be more proud as I have seen him grow into the player and the man he is today," he mentioned in his statement.

It is for the first time that a camp has been organised to prepare for an away tie. The team will assemble in New York on September 4 and will leave for Edmonton on September 10.

The former Davis Cupper tersely pointed out that Paes had his own definition of "respect" and also claimed that the winner of 18 Grand Slams never always walked the talk when it came to disciplinary issues.

The selectors will also deliberate whether to go with two singles players or opt for three. Saketh Myneni, who pulled out of the New Zealand tie in the last minute, and Sumit Nagal have made themselves unavailable due to injury issues.  

Amritraj had taken over as captain from SP Misra in 2013 after leading players revolted against the way AITA was handling Davis Cup issues.

Earlier, Indian tennis legend Mahesh Bhupathi was named the new non-playing captain of the Davis Cup team.

Multiple Grand Slam winner Bhupathi was the hot favourite the moment AITA decided to replace Amritraj.

The ministry has asked the tennis body to elect a new President within 90 days. 

In June earlier this year, Bopanna had written a letter to AITA asking the federation to pair him with Saketh Myneni (World No. 125) and not Leander Paes (World No. 46) for Rio Olympics 2016.

India's tennis team selection has become a headache of late for AITA with star players going by their own individual wisdom and indulging in mud-slinging.

It has also been reported that ITF has confirmed that the Williams sisters had permission for the therapeutic use of banned drugs.

Fancy Bears', a Russian hackers group, has claimed that it has uncovered files which showed that several American athletes, including Venus and her younger sister Serena Williams were allowed to take banned substances by WADA under the TUEs procedure.

Sania and Rohan Bopanna had lost their mixed doubles semifinals in the Rio Olympics to American combo of Venus and Rajeev Ram, who ended up as silver medallists.