Athletes lose interest with drama around selection: Sasi Mukund on Asian Games

Sasi Kumar Mukund was excited to be a part of a multisporting event for the first time in his career soak in the experience and watch some legendary athletes in action from close but the tennis player has now lost interest in playing for India at the Asian Games even if he gets a lastminute entry due to the drama surrounding his selectionMukund was one of the singles players picked by the All India Tennis Association AITA for the Asian Games but the Sports Ministry did not approve his name since he did not meet the selection criteria of being a topeight player in the Asian regionThe names of Vaidehi Chaudhari and Sahaja Yamlapalli were also struck off from the womens squadExclusion of 26yearold Mukund put AITA in a spot since it left India with only Sumit Nagal as a dedicated singles player in the squad Nagal is the countrys number one singles player ranked 189 while Mukund is secondbest at 361The other four members in the squad Rohan Bopanna Yuki Bhambri Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan are expected to compete only in the mens doubles eventBhambri and Myneni is one likely pair while BopannaRamanathan is expected to be the other teamKeen to see that at least two Indians compete in the singles the AITA and nonplaying captain Rohit Rajpal are making an effort to convince the ministry for Mukunds inclusionThe government does not want to waste the public money by sending a large contingent without realistic medal hopes They are right with their criteria but we need to have two singles players so I will push for his inclusion Rajpal told PTIThe ultimate aim for both AITA and the ministry to have more medal winning athletes in the squad Mukund is emotional but I want him to move on take it in his stride his initial exclusion and now be ready for the Games But if he is not ready I cant get a clearance from the ministryMukund though has expressed his inability to be in the team having committed to playing two ATP events one before the Asian Games and one afterI was so excited to be playing the Asian Games I dont get to see a Neeraj Chopra on a regular basis I was looking forward to competing alongside my close friend Tejaswin Shankar athletics I thought we will compete together Mukund told PTI from ShanghaiMy coach also told me not to worry about the ATP circuit since Challengers are held throughout the year and these bigticket events come only once in four yearsBut my name was not approved I am fine if I dont meet the criteria What do you do I waited till August 23 and when nothing happened I paid my coach Martin Spoettl advance fee and committed to ATP to play tournaments I cant backoff nowMukund said such treatment of the players leaves them demotivatedAlso ReadBopannaEbden off to convincing startI am very disappointed I wanted to play But you cant say no and then yes This exclusioninclusion drama is too much I have lost interest I cant alter my plans now I have paid to my coach money also matters for athletes like us but more than anything if you are going for an event like Asian Games you have to be super motivated which I am not as of today Mukund said making his point clearRajpal though said country should come first whatever be the situationI am sorry but these are not the excuses you can make for not playing We have grown up with the values where we learnt that country comes first I want to instill the same values in my players he said PTI AT ATKHSKHS09011623NNNNThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever