India’s Leander Paes will become the only tennis player in the world and the first Indian to make a seventh appearance at the Olympics. Paes won the bronze medal for India in singles tennis at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Interestingly, Leander’s father Vece was a midfielder in the bronze medal-winning Indian field hockey team at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Decks were cleared for Leander Paes to make a record seventh Olympic appearance after Rohan Bopanna accepted him as his men’s doubles partner on the AITA’s insistence, ending days of speculation surrounding the Indian team for the Rio Games. Bopanna’s original choice was Saketh Myneni but All India Tennis Association (AITA) selection committee felt that Paes and Bopanna are the “best bet” for a medal.
Did You Know?
- Paes is considered to be one of the best doubles and mixed doubles players of all time.
- He has won eight doubles and ten mixed doubles Grand Slam titles, and is the oldest man to have won a Grand Slam title.
- He holds a career Grand Slam in men’s doubles and mixed doubles, and achieved the rare men’s doubles/mixed doubles double at the 1999 Wimbledon tournament.
- His mixed doubles Wimbledon title in 2010 made him the second man (after Rod Laver) to win Wimbledon titles in three decades.
- One of the most successful professional Indian tennis players, he has received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, India’s highest sporting honour, in 1996–97; the Arjuna Award in 1990; the Padma Shri award in 2001 and its 3rd Highest Civilian Award the Padma Bhushan in January 2014 for his outstanding contribution to tennis in India.
