Leander Paes checks in, gets cracking

RIO DE JANEIRO: Leander Paes celebrated the 20th anniversary of his Atlanta Olympics singles bronze medal in the men's individual event on Wednesday. He announced his arrival here the next day with a tweet - a selfie with Martina Hingis. He then checked into the Games Village and found out to his dismay that the room that had been allocated to him was occupied by someone else.
Paes left his luggage in chef-de-mission Rakesh Gupta's room and immediately went for practice.Then the jugaad began. Gupta was forced to arrange a double room in another apartment block which had been allocated to some Indian doctors.

"Everyone here wants single occupancy in a double room. We had allocated a double room to Leander, but as that had been occupied, we shifted him to another apartment. He is not complaining. Yes, he left his luggage in my room and went for practice. By the time he came back his room was ready and he is happy.
"What more can I do? Everyone wants single occupancy in a double room. Some coaches do not want to stay with players. The wrestlers have not come yet, so I am trying to adjust everyone," Gupta told TOI. Even before Paes had arrived here, conspiracy theories had started floating that the 43-year-old did not want to live with Rohan Bopanna in the same apartment.
Given the unhappy vibes between Paes and Bopanna, the latest drama doesn't augur well for the duo. They will open their campaign against the Polish pair of Lucasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski on Saturday. Both Polish players are in their early thirties and currently 25th and 27th, respectively, in the ATP doubles list. They will be tough nuts to crack.
As for Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare, they are up against the crack Chinese doubles pair of Zhang Shuai and Peng Shuai. This, again, is a huge ask for the Indians. Sania is at the peak of her prowess in doubles but Prarthana is relatively inexperienced. It remains to be seen whether Sania can lift her game a notch to help the pair advance to the next round.
At the tennis centre, though, all eyes will be on Paes and Bopanna. Both are with vast experience -one 43-year-old, the other 36. Everything can fall into place when they walk out on the hard courts on Saturday.