Leander Paes, Indian tennis star has not been allotted a room at the Rio Olympics games village. Upon reaching, Paes found out that there hasn’t been a room assigned to him and had to change in Chef Rakesh Sharma’s room. Rumors had surfaced that Paes had denied staying with his partner for the tournament, Rohan Bopanna. India’s non-playing captain/coach Zeeshan Ali has denied these rumors saying that Paes never made these demands about not staying with Bopanna or in the village. Earlier, Paes had arrived late in Brazil. Paes later explained that he was in New York playing a tournament and took the first flight to Rio on its completion. He complained that of the three rooms assigned, one remained with Zeeshan and the other two were allotted to Bopanna and the team Physio.
Earlier Paes’s late arrival in Brazil had forced his doubles partner, Rohan Bopanna to practice with Sania Mirza and Serbia’s Nenad Zimonjic. Tensions have been running high since before the flight to Rio when Bopanna had picked Saketh Myneni over the veteran Leander Paes to partner him at Rio Olympics. But the All India Tennis Association had gone against his wishes and named Leander Paes as Bopanna’s partner for the games.
However, this is not a unique instance of Indian players facing a lack of facilities from the Rio Olympic Organisation. A few days ago, the Indian hockey team was facing a shortage of chairs and Television sets and Coach Roelant Oltmans had complained of the lack of proper furnishing at the apartments.