India National Thread

[Suneet 18]

1 minute ago, Smit said:

I have no hope from Badminton this time. Saina has to work really really hard! I dont wanna see screaMarin winning Olympics

Lol @ screaMarin 

[Vivek 6]

I have hope from badminton, but not from tennis..

Needs good players in tennis singles, only than we can hope for medal. 

[Suneet 18]

3 minutes ago, Vivek said:

Who will partner whom in mixed double doesn't solve any problem. If you see past records maximum mixed double as well as men and women double medals were won by great singles players. Last time Williams with Bryan won it for USA. RF too have won the men doubles, in Olympics doubles becomes quite tough as all great singles players become part of their national team. 

But Vivek, it would be unfair to infer anything for mixed doubles as we just have the last Olympics to look at. And Max Mirnyi who is a doubles specialist won the gold last time with Azarenka who is a singles specialist. So can't really say anything. I feel that playing doubles is an art. You definitely don't play it like singles. Court coverage needs to be less, you need to gel with your partner and exploit both your opponents' weaknesses and so on. And I feel Paes is the very best at it in mixed doubles

 

Similarly in men's and women's doubles, we have seen both doubles as well as singles specialists win medals. So really can't infer much here as well.

[kapil857 31]

36 minutes ago, Suneet said:

You are right about difficulty in qualification. But if they have a chance to qualify they should be sent just because Paes is Paes in mixed doubles . Bopanna would suck even if he got the best partner possible.

 

If Hingis were Indian, all our dilemma would have been solved. Heck we would have had 2 medals assured! 

 

but what do u do if Paes/Sania have only a "chance" to qualify while Bopanna/Sania are assured of qualification. You can't exactly wait to see which players across the globe enter the mixed event and then submit your entry - you have to submit along with the others. In case of mixed doubles, a top singles player who suffers a shock first round singles loss may at the last moment also decide to enter the mixed doubles fray. Imagine the controversy if Paes/Sania were submitted as an entry and then they missed the cut. I believe a similar thing happened with some county at London (not sure but I think it was France) whereby two of their pairs just missed qualification as they formed pairs while pretty much ignoring the rankings..

 

And with due respect, Paes' recent mixed doubles slams are Hingis-assisted. When comparing two players, just like wind-assisted timings in athletics, Hingis-assisted slams need at-least a small asterix next to them... 

[Suneet 18]

6 minutes ago, kapil857 said:

 

but what do u do if Paes/Sania have only a "chance" to qualify while Bopanna/Sania are assured of qualification. You can't exactly wait to see which players across the globe enter the mixed event and then submit your entry - you have to submit along with the others. In case of mixed doubles, a top singles player who suffers a shock first round singles loss may at the last moment also decide to enter the mixed doubles fray. Imagine the controversy if Paes/Sania were submitted as an entry and then they missed the cut. I believe a similar thing happened with some county at London (not sure but I think it was France) whereby two of their pairs just missed qualification as they formed pairs while pretty much ignoring the rankings..

 

And with due respect, Paes' recent mixed doubles slams are Hingis-assisted. When comparing two players, just like wind-assisted timings in athletics, Hingis-assisted slams need at-least a small asterix next to them... 

Yup. Once the rankings are frozen, the AITA should check all permutations and combinations to see if they qualify. They just need to hire an analyst. I can do that work if they want .

 

And of course it takes two to tango. But Hingis is his partner because of him. Surely Rohan has tried his hand at playing with a suitable partner. My comparison for now is only between Paes and Bopanna and Paes makes the cut for me.

 

BTW, what about the continental quota you were talking about? With a slight improvement in Paes' ranking, won't our chances get better?

[Smit 4]

http://indianexpress.com/article/sports/tennis/if-i-am-in-top-10-i-can-pick-my-partner-for-rio-olympics-rohan-bopanna-2831516/

 

Look at this man. Even in such situation he doesn't wanna say that he will partner Paes if he makes top 10.

Let him choose Bhupathi, ITF will automatically disqualify Bhupathi as he doesn't fulfill the criteria of minimum Davis Cup entries. (provided it is applicable on chosen partner as well)

 

And if he has to go with Paes, they won't win a medal. You are jealous of your own partner how can you win a medal with him!

 

In mixed doubles its almost clear that Sania and Bopanna are teaming up. Because Sania and Leander's combined ranking wont be enough to make top 16 of mixed doubles entries.

 

 

[nitinsanker 208]

6 minutes ago, Smit said:

http://indianexpress.com/article/sports/tennis/if-i-am-in-top-10-i-can-pick-my-partner-for-rio-olympics-rohan-bopanna-2831516/

 

Look at this man. Even in such situation he doesn't wanna say that he will partner Paes if he makes top 10.

Let him choose Bhupathi, ITF will automatically disqualify Bhupathi as he doesn't fulfill the criteria of minimum Davis Cup entries. (provided it is applicable on chosen partner as well)

 

And if he has to go with Paes, they won't win a medal. You are jealous of your own partner how can you win a medal with him!

 

In mixed doubles its almost clear that Sania and Bopanna are teaming up. Because Sania and Leander's combined ranking wont be enough to make top 16 of mixed doubles entries.

 

 

 

I agree it is really stupid of him ................ The question in sports is not your feeling but working with the best possible players available to ensure that you can WIN  ..... his best chance is obviously Lee ........lee is the best ranked player in mens doubles available , lee is a great heart player , he plays with his heart and this will be his last olympic so he will put in his best ( remember he won a singles medal ranked 70th or so ) ............... Are we saying that purav raja is better than paes ....... bhupathi for all his greatness is now retired and is ranked 160th .... if Bopanna wants to be a tourist - thats his choice ...maybe he can relax on the beach but he has a snowballs chance in hell to win a medal without lee and as a sports fan I will not be respecting him if he chooses any one but lee ....................

[Sanjib 17]

2 hours ago, Vivek said:

I have hope from badminton, but not from tennis..

Needs good players in tennis singles, only than we can hope for medal. 

Badminton, we are better served than last time, though recent form is poor, Sindhu also has a chance, she won World Championship medal twice so don't loose hope, Srikanth let's see how he comes back in Australian Open, he had a 4 week practice after a long time. I think among men currently Pranoy was in best form, but again suffered a toe injury.

 

Saina is very slow on court compared to top players, look at the balletic movement Intanon possess, Okuhara is perhaps the fastest on court even with her short ht, we Indian's again bow down to fitness.

[Vivek 6]

Actually the whole double controversy in 2012 was started by tennis Federation with their pro-paes attitude. In 2012 mahesh &  rohan were playing together as a team and paes was playing with foreign players. Last time paes took the advantage of pro-paes attitude of Federation and created that unnecessary controversy. In 2012 rohan & mahesh deserved to play together but paes did all wrong that time. The politics that was played in 2012 is still damaging indian tennis. 

[Suneet 18]

Dodig's men's doubles semifinal in progress. It is one set all and on serve in the third. Hopefully Bopanna gets to eat his disgraceful words.