Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Indian tennis star Leander Paes has pulled out from the country’s upcoming World Group play-off tie against South Africa because of injury.
Paes had injured his elbow ten days back while playing mixed doubles in the US Open tournament.
Now Rohan Bopanna will have an added burden of playing in
the doubles rubber with Mahesh Bhupathi apart from playing the
second singles.
In the changed circumstances, it will be interesting to
see if non-playing captain SP Misra hands Yuki Bhambri his
Davis Cup cap.
"It's a tough decision for me but I don't want to be a
liability on team rather than an asset. But this team is
excellent and the boys are capable of pulling this tie," Paes
said.
Akhtar Ali, national selector said, "Leander informed us
yesterday that he will not play the tie. But I think Rohan is
a capable doubles player, so there should not be any problem.
But (Wesley) Moodie is a top player so it makes the doubles
rubber tough now for India."
First Published: Tuesday, September 15, 2009, 15:08