“Why Have Rankings?”: Rohan Bopanna Blasts Sports Ministry Over Asian Games Squad Exclusion
The landscape of Indian tennis is in turmoil after veteran doubles star and two-time Asian Games gold medallist Rohan Bopanna publicly slammed the national sports ministry for a controversial shift in selection policy that has sidelined five deserving athletes from the upcoming 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
The conflict stems from new government guidelines that restrict Asian Games participation to tennis players ranked within the top eight in the continent. This arbitrary mandate has resulted in the exclusion of five players—Manas Dhamne, Vaishnavi Adkar, Sahaja Yamalapalli, Vaidehee Chaudhari, and Prarthana Thombare—despite their previous efforts to secure their spots through merit-based qualification.
“Decided in a Boardroom”
Bopanna, a stalwart of the sport, took to LinkedIn to express his outrage, arguing that the decision undermines the integrity of the game. He questioned the very purpose of maintaining a ranking system if performance on the court is to be rendered irrelevant by administrative decisions.
“Five players, including India’s No. 1 and No. 2 in women’s singles, earned their rankings the hard way. No shortcuts. No favours,” Bopanna wrote. “Now a committee that never stood where they stood has decided their fate on paper, before a ball is struck. If outcomes are already decided, why have qualification at all? Why rankings?”
A Blow to Development and Support
Beyond the immediate impact on the athletes’ careers, Bopanna emphasized the broader psychological and financial toll this decision takes on the sporting ecosystem. By labelling these players as “not medal prospects” based on bureaucratic metrics rather than current form, the ministry has effectively dismissed the years of investment made by families and sponsors.
“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,” he added. “Telling these players they’re ‘not medal prospects’ tells every one of those parents and sponsors: your judgment doesn’t matter here.”
A Call for Meritocracy
As the 2026 Asian Games approach—scheduled to kick off on September 19—the tennis fraternity is calling for a reconsideration of the policy. Bopanna’s critique serves as a poignant reminder that sports are meant to be decided by athletic performance rather than administrative gatekeeping.
“Sport is the one arena where belief outruns prediction, where the written off rewrite the script,” Bopanna concluded. “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.”
As of now, the Sports Ministry has yet to issue a formal response to the mounting criticism, leaving the status of the affected players in a state of uncertainty.
