"The Ministry has said that it will support the decision of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) and would also support the decision of the Indian Olympic Association.
"And the idea should be to send the best possible medal winning team and not necessarily two teams just as a filler because it was completely explained that Leander Paes going with a world number 207 or 308 is not a medal-winning prospect," said Khanna after Sports Minister Ajay Maken refused to intervene in the selection crisis.
After the Sports Ministry left it to AITA to take a final call on the men's doubles combination for the upcoming mega-event, Khanna said, "We have only three eminent doubles players and only two out of the three can go and therefore it was felt that the selection committee...We will go and talk to them once again and see what we need to do.
"But the selection committee of the AITA has already decided that the No.1 player, which is Leander Paes should partner Mahesh Bhupathi who is India's No. 3 right now. And in case Mahesh declines then Leander should partner with Bopanna. MORE
