Leander Paes and Sania Mirza are tipped to clinch the mixed doubles gold. However, they will have their hurdles.
Leander Paes and Sania Mirza are tipped to clinch the mixed doubles gold. However, they will have their hurdles.
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| Leander Paes with partner Sania Mirza during their mixed doubles match against Uzbekistan at the Asian Games in Doha in 2006. PIC/AFP |
"The CWG has the potential of throwing up a host of unknown players, many of whom may not even be from the WTA and ATP Tours. We know nothing about them, while they know way too much about us having seen us on the Tours. It's always difficult to take on the unknown," Paes told MiD DAY last night after he and Sania preferred to sweat it out over a practice session instead of attending the spectacular opening ceremony at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
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Paes, who will partner Sania after four years,u00a0 was a tad disappointed.u00a0"I've been part of a number of opening ceremonies in my two-decade long career, but this one was special since it was held on home turf," said Paes, a veteran of four Olympics. "But the country comes first and a medal for India is our priority. We were thus forced to give the ceremony a miss and train under lights since our matchu00a0 will be under floodlights today. We are gunning for gold," said Paes.u00a0
Paes-Sania, seeded second, take on St Lucia's Stacey Nykita Roheman and Alberton Richelieu while another Indian mixed pair Rohan Bopanna and Nirupama Sanjeev face top seeds Anastasia Rodionova and Paul Hanley this evening. Bopanna also has a singles match in the morning against Uganda's Robert Muyinza.
Can Team Paes-Sania repeat their gold medal-winning show of Asiad 2006 in Doha? They could if they get off to a red hot start today.
