Paes joins Parikh's camp, to contest AITA elections as a team

CHENNAI: In a significant political realignment ahead of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) elections, legendary Leander Paes has joined hands with interim president Chintan Parikh to contest the elections as part of a joint panel, agreeing to take up the vice-president's role under the banner of 'Tennis First'.

'Tennis First' aims at bringing transparency and accountability to Indian tennis administration.

Paes, who was initially looking to contest the November 27 elections against Parikh, will now be part of a joint panel with the Gujarat-based administrator, who will seek another term as president.

However, that possibility ended when Paes chose not to enter Sportspersons of Outstanding Merit (SOM) elections despite being the only player placed in Tier-1.

He could not have entered the race for the President's post from West Bengal since he has not yet completed one term as its chief.

The decision follows a meeting between the two in Kolkata last week, where Paes proposed joining Parikh's group and expressed his desire to work towards strengthening Indian tennis at the grassroots level.

The eight-time men's doubles and 10-time mixed doubles Grand Slam champion, who is also the president of the West Bengal Tennis Association, is understood to have conveyed his aspirations of playing a larger role in Indian sports administration, including possibly entering the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in the future.

Parikh confirmed the development, saying the discussions covered governance reforms, the functioning of the AITA Trust and the need to remove people who, in his assessment, were more interested in personal interests than the development of tennis.

"In our meeting in West Bengal I was asked if Leander becomes a part of my team what would be my expectations and vice versa. We discussed various aspects. Paes felt that this business of permanent trustees at AITA Trust need to go.

"People who now say that they are not answerable as permanent trustee is not acceptable. People have to understand that," Parikh told PTI.

Former AITA secretary general Anil Dhupar, former president Anil Jain, Anil Khanna, Ashok Kumar, Raktim Saikia and Bharat Oza are members of the AITA Trust. Rohit Rajpal had resigned as treasurer of the Trust.

Parikh said Paes was keen to bring the Trust under the AITA umbrella and felt that the existing governance structure needed greater accountability.

A dispute between Rajpal-led DLTA and AITA Trust recently surfaced.

"Paes is the only Tier 1 player in SOM and we would like to work as a team. He can be a player ambassador, address media and be involved in policy making, and also work on developing an ethics code," Parikh said.

The joint panel will contest under the banner of 'Tennis First', with a stated commitment to clean and transparent governance, adherence to the International Tennis Federation's code of ethics, and creating a more player-centric environment.

The agenda also includes taking tennis to areas where the sport has limited presence, identifying and grooming young talent, providing coaching and financial support to budding players, and improving infrastructure with the larger objective of building a world-class tennis ecosystem.