"I 100% believe we have tremendous talent in India, but I believe it's people like myself along with the governance, along with the whole sporting fraternity, to reach out to that talent in rural areas in places where maybe those children are not as fortunate as you and I," Peas said.
Indian tennis team continued their dominant run against rivals Pakistan with their eighth successive win on Sunday and secured a place in the Davis Cup 2024 World Group 1. After a 2-0 lead on Saturday, India won both matches today to clinch 4-0 in Islamabad.
The Indian Davis Cup team has reached Pakistan for the first time in 60 years. India and Pakistan will face each other in a World Group-1 play-off tie that will be played on February 3-4. Notably, the Indian team is getting high security for their visit to the neighbouring nation.
"This is wrong. When it's a question of serving the country why would you not do it? I have put the matter in the hands of the Executive Committee," All India Tennis Association (AITA) Secretary General Dhupar said on Friday.
Rohan Bopanna, 43 of age, partnered with Matthew Ebden of South Africa to beat Rinky Hijijata and Jasin Kubler in their second match of the doubles at ATP Finals 2023 in Turin on Wednesday and became the oldest tennis player to win the match in tournament history.
"There used to be fantastic team atmosphere, which has been kind of lost in the last couple of years and we need to bring that back," Bopanna said.
About the tie, Rajpal reiterated that the grass-court would work to India's advantage and was especially pleased to have Yuki Bhambri back in the mix.
Mirza, partnering American Rajeev Ram, lost the match 4-6, 6-7 to wildcard entries Fourlis and Kubler in one hour 30 minutes.
Mirza, 35, had returned to tennis after giving birth to her son in March 2019 but her progress was later thwarted by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Sports Ministry and AITA had agreed to invest Rs 20 crore to establish the Centre, on the lines of the Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad, but eventually, the budget was brought down to Rs 10 crore.
They lost 6-7(5), 2-6, 6-7(4) to relatively inexperienced pair of Nikola Milojevic and Danilo Petrovic after two hours and 22 minutes on indoor courts.
Bhambri and Sharan, who had also teamed up at the inaugural Maharashtra Open, sent Raja and Martin packing with a 6-3, 5-7 and 6-4 win in the opening round of the Roland Garros.
Indian tennis moved at its usual pace as there was neither great success nor depths of despair. It just hung in the middle, thanks to unswerving spirit of the youngsters.
The Indian tennis legend also stressed on the fact that we need good singles players if India want to do well in Davis Cup World Group as the top players take part and have to look beyond only doubles events.
Bangalore, Apr 6: Veteran Leander Paes ha emphasissed that it was team unity as much as individual performances that helped India take an unbeatable 3-0 lead over Indonesia in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I
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