Age no bar for Leander Paes

Age has not dulled Leaner Paes or his ambitions. A career Grand Slam in doubles done, he is now working towards bagging his second Olympic medal, writes Hindustan Times.

“It's taken 20 years to get there. Can you imagine?” Not really, says the report, stating that it is unlikely that anyone, let alone in the room, but even the country can imagine the sweat behind or the worth of those four modest silver cups: the last of which was earned when Paes became the first Indian to complete a career Grand Slam in men's doubles by winning the Australian Open.

Tracing back to the time when Leander started tennis, the report quotes his father Vece Paes, “Chiradip Mukerjea (former Davis Cup player) had bought a tennis racquet for Leander. I took him to the Dalhousie club in Calcutta, handed him the racquet and told him to hit against the wall, one ball at a time, because that helps to build technique. I told him to do that for half an hour after which I was supposed to go and pick him. But I got late, and came back after two hours, and saw this five-year-old still hitting against the wall, one ball at a time.”

Another tennis ace, Sania Mirza won both her singles and doubles matches to help India beat Hong Kong 2-1 in the play-off and qualify for Group I in the Asia-Oceania Fed Cup tennis tournament in Shenzhen, China, on Saturday. While China defeated Kazakhstan in Group I to make it to the World Group play-off, Uzbekistan defeated Indonesia in the relegation play-off, pushing the latter to Group II for the next season.

Meanwhile, Aditya Mehta (PSPB) defended his National snooker title on Saturday. A title-match with a high break of 80 — with two reds remaining — in the eighth frame saw him clinch the final set to 11 frames against Kamal Chawla in the Manisha National billiards and snooker championships, reports The Hindu.