Now Reading: AITA and SAI clash over five tennis players cut from Asian Games squad
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AITA and SAI clash over five tennis players cut from Asian Games squad
AITA and the Sports Authority of India traded claims on Tuesday over five tennis players excluded from the Asian Games squad. An SAI source said Manas Dhamne, Vaishnavi Adkar, Sahaja Yamalapalli, Vaidehee…
AITA and the Sports Authority of India traded claims on Tuesday over five tennis players excluded from the Asian Games squad. An SAI source said Manas Dhamne, Vaishnavi Adkar, Sahaja Yamalapalli, Vaidehee Chaudhari and Prarthana Thombare were never part of the list submitted by AITA to the IOA, and their omission was justified under the ministry’s medal-potential criteria. AITA denied this, releasing a July 3 letter addressed to IOA CEO Raghuram Iyer that specifically named the five players and sought their inclusion.
AITA secretary general Sunder Iyer insisted the federation had made an "unequivocal representation" for the strongest possible contingent across tennis's five medal events. The government has refused to relax the criteria, warning that discretionary clearances would invite litigation from other sports bodies. Tennis great Rohan Bopanna criticised the decision, saying a committee had judged players on paper before a ball was struck.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The dispute turns on the Sports Ministry’s September 2025 multi-sport selection criteria, which allows it to reject federation recommendations and cut squads to only medal-potential athletes. Indian tennis has consistently produced top-50 doubles players and Grand Slam finalists, yet singles rankings rarely crack the top 100, making the Asia-wide top-8 filter a high bar. The real test is whether the IOA or a future review mechanism can accommodate tennis’s event-specific demands, where a doubles specialist or mixed-doubles pair can win a medal without being ranked among the top eight singles players. The July 3 letter that AITA cites will likely be the central document if the matter reaches the Sports Ministry’s grievance committee. The Olympic Council of Asia’s final entry deadline for the Aichi-Nagoya Games is normally around mid-March 2026, leaving a narrow window for any reinstatement.
Source: hindustantimes.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
