The five tennis players excluded from the country’s Asian Games squad did not feature in the short list sent to the IOA by the All India Tennis Association (AITA), a Sports Authority of India (SAI) source said on Tuesday, but the tennis body denied the assertion saying it fought for their selection. Manas Dhamne (men’s singles), Vaishnavi Adkar (women’s singles), Sahaja Yamalapalli (women’s singles), Vaidehee Chaudhari (women’s doubles) and Prarthana Thombare (women’s doubles) were not included in the seven-member Indian squad as they did not meet the criteria of being inside the top-8 of continental standings. “Their names were not received by Sports Ministry in the final short list shared by the IOA (Indian Olympic Association). In fact their names were not there in the short list sent by the All India Tennis Association (AITA) to the IOA,” the source told PTI.
Their exclusion, the source said, is justified as their recent performances too did not reflect medal probability or potential for effective participation in the showpiece.
However, AITA said it made an “unequivocal representation to the IOA CEO Raghuram Iyer, seeking a review of their exclusion from the final squad.
“AITA stated that the matter was not merely about individual athletes but about ensuring that India fields its strongest possible tennis contingent,” AITA Secretary General Sunder Iyer said in a statement.
“…any suggestion that the AITA did not provide names or did not seek the inclusion of its selected players is factually incorrect and contradicts the Association’s written representation to the IOA dated July 3, 2026,” it added.
Responding to AITA’s statement, the SAI source said the IOA had categorically told the body about the five names not meeting the selection criteria when the provisional list was sent.
“They knew the names were not eligible as per the selection criteria and were told that they cannot be there in the short-list, which was what eventually happened,” he said.
The Ministry’s selection mandate required individual athletes to be among top six in Asia for singles events and be ranked within the top eight in Asia for doubles over a 12-month evaluation window. This criteria was unveiled by the Sports Ministry in September last year.
Their omission was heavily criticised by two-time Asian Games gold-medallist Rohan Bopanna, who said “a committee that never stood where they stood has decided their fate on paper, before a ball is struck.” Sahaja (world rank 344) is the current India number one in women’s singles and Vaishnavi (world rank 388) is national number two. Prarthna is a former Asian Games bronze-medallist (2014), Vaidahee is a two-time national champion and the 18-year-old Manas is a Challenger level finalist.
The Sports Ministry made it clear on Monday that the criteria will not be relaxed despite pressure being mounted by certain quarters.
“…creating discretionary back-channel clearances for tennis players ranked 25th to 40th in Asia would destroy administrative integrity and trigger widespread litigation from other National Sports Federations (NSFs),” the source said.
Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan is the current Asian number one and is placed second in world rankings, while Japan’s Naomi Osaka is current world number 13 and continental number two. The top six players in Asia are all ranked within the global top-100.
Prarthna was to potentially team up with Vaidahee for the doubles event but the duo has not played any tennis together so far.
“…(it) raises legitimate questions about their preparedness and intent to build a competitive partnership ahead of the Asian Games,” the source said.
Bopanna had stated that denying them an opportunity to compete was against the very principles of building a sporting nation.
“You don’t build a sporting nation, or a sporting economy, by deciding in a boardroom who’s allowed to compete,” he added.
But the SAI source countered that by saying, “Exposure trips belong on the ITF and Challenger circuits, not at the Asian Games.” The final tennis squad for the Asiad has only one singles player in Sumit Nagal, with Ramkumar Ramanathan, Saketh Myneni, Yuki Bhambri, Rutuja Bhosale, and Ankita Raina making up the doubles teams.
Tennis has been allocated a budget of Rs 10.05 crore for its 2026-27 Annual Competition and Training Calender (ACTC). Over two crore of this budget will be spent on funding overseas training and competition.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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