AITA sleeps over TOPS funding for singles players; Bopanna, Sharan too could face axe

The national tennis federation has not sought re-inclusion of country's top singles players in the TOP Scheme since the Asian Games and even doubles specialists, Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan, run the risk of missing out on funding following their split.

At the moment, 71 athletes across disciplines are getting financial support through Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) and Bopanna and Sharan are the only tennis players in the list.

They had joined forces at the beginning of the season, keeping in mind Tokyo Olympics, but patchy results forced them to look for different partners.

Now the government has asked All India Tennis Association (AITA) to explain the split and the federation in return has asked Bopanna to justify the decision.

Country's top singles players -- Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Ankita Raina -- are not part of TOPS as their names were struck off after the Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, where they won a bronze medal each.

Interestingly, the AITA has not taken any ...