Prarthana Thombare and Vaishnavi Adkar
NEW DELHI: The row over India’s tennis squad for the 2026 Asian Games intensified on Tuesday after the All India Tennis Association (AITA) categorically rejected claims that it failed to submit the names of excluded players to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). 10 on the women’s doubles acceptance list, with withdrawals potentially opening the door to the main draw.
Excluding established doubles specialists, the federation said, would weaken India’s medal prospects. It also pointed out that Thombare and Bhosale were positioned at No.
However, TimesofIndia.com has accessed the letter dated July 3 which was sent to the IOA CEO Raghuram Iyer where merits of each player, including recent history, was mentioned. 2), Ankita Raina/N. 5) and Prarthana Thombare/Anirudh Chandrasekar (No. 8). For the singles events, AITA described Yamalapalli as India’s highest-ranked women’s singles player, praised Adkar’s international multi-sport credentials, backed Chaudhari’s consistency on tour and termed 18-year-old Dhamne one of India’s brightest young prospects whose Asian Games participation would aid both immediate competitiveness and long-term Olympic development.
AITA said India had three mixed doubles pairs inside the top-eight accepted entries — Rutuja Bhosale/Yuki Bhambri (seeded No. Bopanna had said that “a committee that never stood where they stood has decided their fate on paper, before a ball is struck,” adding that denying players the chance to compete was against the principles of building a sporting nation. Sriram Balaji (No. Since each country can enter only two pairs, AITA argued this represented two genuine medal opportunities. India’s final tennis squad currently includes Sumit Nagal in men’s singles, while Yuki Bhambri, Dhakshineswar Suresh, N. Sriram Balaji, Anirudh Chandrasekar, Ankita Raina and Rutuja Bhosale have been selected for the doubles events.