By Saumojyoti Singha Choudhury, IANS
New Delhi : Though the All India Tennis Association (AITA) has been shocked by Mahesh Bhupathi’s recent match-fixing disclosure, it has decided not to employ any special measure to keep an eye on the players or their contacts during India’s upcoming Davis Cup tie against Uzbekistan here next month.
During the just-concluded Australian Open, Bhupathi made the sensational disclosure that way back in 1996, someone had approached him to tank his Davis Cup match against the Netherlands that India had won 3-2 at Jaipur.
The AITA took a serious view of the revelation and on Jan 22 wanted a joint committee comprising International Tennis Federation (ITF), Association of Tennis Professional (ATP), Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the Grand Slam Committee to probe the matter.
However, AITA secretary Anil Khanna told IANS Tuesday that there is no need for any special measures, fearing or imagining malpractices during India’s Asia/Oceania Group Davis Cup tie against Uzbekistan here from Feb 8 just because a few isolated cases have been reported. “The credibility and integrity of Indian players is unimpeachable.”
“We should not make big fuss about an off-the-cuff remark unless it is substantiated,” he added.
However, AITA is constituting a code-of-conduct committee to lay down guidelines for players to follow in competitive matches.
Khanna, who is also the president of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF), said the formation of the committee, which was to be finalised Tuesday, had been deferred to next week as AITA president was preoccupied.
“Till the guidelines are codified, if any player is approached by any suspicious person for tanking a match, he or she has to report the matter to the code of conduct committee first,” Khanna said.