Tennis row shows Indian sports in poor light: Jwala

Hyderabad: Olympic-bound shuttler Jwala Gutta feels the ongoing selection row in tennis shows Indian sports in poor light and AITA could have sorted out the issue much earlier.

"It was not necessary. They (AITA) could have kept it to themselves. Everybody knew that Leander and Mahesh would be playing Olympics. They could have sorted it out much earlier," Jwala said. "I don`t know why such a thing happened just now. AITA could have done it within themselves, instead of making new announcements every day. Something, I don`t know why was it done. It gives a bad name not only to tennis, to the sport on the well," she said. The 28-year-old Hyderabadi, who became the first Indian shuttler to qualify for two events -- mixed doubles and women`s doubles -- in Olympics, said the tendency of sports associations to allegedly control the players is not acceptable to her. "Something which I cannot digest. Something, the association decides who plays with whom. That`s something new for me. Now, if somebody comes and tells me in my association that Jwala, you cannot play with (V) Diju and Ashwini (Ponnappa). I will be furious," Jwala said. "Probably, its their way or that is the kind of thing, they have been doing for a long time. Somehow, for me it is surprising. For me, it is hard to digest that you are asking somebody to play with somebody who they are not comfortable with," Jwala said. "But I feel that all the associations do this. They try and control their players when they hardly put in any effort to the player`s hard work. They come in only in the latter part of the players` career. Something, I don`t think I can take such things. That is one of the reasons why I fought with my association when V K Verma was the president," she added. Jwala, who won the 2011 World championship bronze medal alongwith Ashwini in women`s doubles, said India would have a better chance of winning a medal in Olympics if the players are comfortable. "Yes, India comes first. But, then we only get best results if that person is comfortable with his or her own partner," she said. PTI