Two-time Asian Games gold medallist Rohan Bopanna has questioned the changes made to India’s tennis squad for the 2026 Asian Games, saying players who had earned their place through rankings were left out after the selection process was changed.The sports ministry’s guidelines limited the Asian Games tennis squad to players ranked among the top eight in Asia. As a result, Manas Dhamne, Vaishnavi Adkar, Sahaja Yamalapalli, Vaidehee Chaudhari and Prarthana Thombare missed out on selection.Five players who had qualified were affected after the selection process followed the sports ministry’s top-eight-in-Asia rule.In a post on LinkedIn, Bopanna said the decision raised questions about the value of rankings and qualification.“Five players, including India’s No. 1 and No. 2 in women’s singles, earned their rankings the hard way. No shortcuts. No favours. They competed internationally, qualified and proved where they stand.”“Now a committee that never stood where they stood has decided their fate on paper, before a ball is struck,” he said.“If outcomes are already decided, why have qualification at all? Why rankings?”Bopanna also said the decision affects more than just the players, pointing to the role played by parents and sponsors in supporting their careers.“This isn’t just a call about five athletes. It’s a message to every parent, every sponsor who backed them before the country did, who bet on merit and results, not on being pre-approved.“Telling these players they’re ‘not medal prospects’ tells every one of those parents and sponsors: your judgment doesn’t matter here.”He added that opportunities in sport should be decided on the court, not elsewhere.“Sport is the one arena where belief outruns prediction, where the written off rewrite the script. You don’t build a sporting nation, or a sporting economy, by deciding in a boardroom who’s allowed to compete.“Let them walk onto the court. Let their years of work count for something.”The 2026 Asian Games will begin on September 19 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
