Bangalore: Left with little option, the All India Tennis Association on Wednesday agreed to allow Leander Paes, Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna play in the ATP circuit by skipping the coming Asian Games in Korea.
The association said in its website that it was allowing the three players to take part in the professional circuit as per their wishes.
Earlier, Leander had pleaded that it was important for the players to progress in the professional circuit and he had been at the receiving end dropping several notches in the doubles ranking.
He said professional tour was a ‘bread and butter’ issue for him.
Top singles player Somdev withdrew from Asiad first which was followed suit by the other players.
Bopanna said that he had to defend the doubles title in Tokyo and he had to complete the obligations.
Bopanna also reasoned that it was not easy for him to make this decision.
“We as Asian players look forward to this. Like Lee said, it’s been a tough year for us. Last year I won in Tokyo, so I have to defend there, so it was tough decision,” the tall and big serving player said. (UNI)