BANGALORE: Hardly had young Snehadevi Reddy recovered from the disappointment of being axed from the women's tennis squad for the Asian Games, the youngster has now been left high and dry after AITA decided to dump her even from the reserves list.
Snehadevi was orginally named as playing member but later made reserve and Shweta Rana was given her place. Shweta had argued that since she was better-ranked player, she should be included in the squad and AITA obliged by taking a "corrective step".
"It feels like a cruel joke out here. First, they (AITA) take me in the team. Then they put me in the reserves. Now they are saying that they don't want to take reserve players whereas they took Divij Sharan (in men's squad)," a disillusioned 17-year-old Snehadevi told PTI from Barcelona, where she is currently training.
"To be honest, I woke up this morning so excited and this is second time they have broken me down. But I am going to fight for this. I will never forget what they did to me even if I get selected or not in future," an inconsolable Snehadevi said.
"I had cried even when they had put me in as reserve. To be honest even after that I tried to convince myself that okay there is something better coming for me."
Asked why AITA has taken such a step, Secretary General Bharat Oza came up with a strange reply.
"The selection committee felt that there was no need to have a reserve player," was Oza's weird defence.
But then why was she named in the squad in the first place? "Yes, we had (named her). But we can do without her," was a smug reply from Oza, who had criticised Somdev Devvarman a few days back on his decision to opt out of Asian Games.
It maybe true that Snehadevi's presence may not have made a difference to the team's chances since she is not a playing member but the player certainly feels betrayed and demotivated.
"The selection committee is a farce. I am deeply disappointed. The obtuse attitude of AITA defies logic and reason. It's discriminatory against players from Tamil Nadu," TNTA Vice President Karti P Chidambaram told PTI reacting to development.
Snehadevi Reddy's father P Shankar Reddy was also on the verge of tears while talking.
"She is a little girl. I don't know, why are they doing this to my daughter? Just last night, they told me she is not going. I tried to speak to AITA officials not no one picked my call or replied to mail. It's not happening," Reddy senior said in a choked voice.
He said that he got to know about Snehadevi's exclusion only when he called an AITA official to discuss her withdrawl from ITF events in Madrid and Italy, so that she can go to Asian Games.
"I was told she is not going and there was no reason given to me," he lamented.
