Date:20/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/20/stories/2008082060631800.htm

Sport

Paes steps down as Davis Cup captain

Sports Reporter

— File Photo

Leander Paes.

NEW DELHI: Leander Paes on Tuesday stepped down as captain of the Indian Davis Cup team before the tie against Romania in September.

After Paes’s resignation, the All-India Tennis Association appointed former Davis Cupper S.P. Misra, a member of the Indian side that went into the Challenge Round in 1966, as the non-playing captain.

The team that will play against Romania includes Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Somdev Dev Varman and Prakash Amritraj.

Paes informed AITA Secretary-General Anil Khanna at a meeting held in Beijing that he would like to step down as captain as he wanted the best Davis Cup team to represent the nation and did not want to leave any doubt in anyone’s mind, an AITA release said. Paes’s resignation comes after a revolt by fellow players, including Bhupathi and Amritraj, against his leadership just before India’s previous Davis Cup tie against Japan in Delhi in April.

Paes holds the highest win-loss record for India having won 83 Davis Cup matches against 31 losses.

Principal Correspondent reports from Hyderabad

Misra ‘honoured’

“It is a great honour and a huge responsibility too,” remarked S.P. Misra on his appointment as non-playing captain.

“I was with the boys during the match against Japan. And we won hands down when no one gave us a chance,” he said.

“I will be looking at the assignment as a team effort. Personally, it doesn’t matter much whether I am the captain or Leander (Paes). We will look for collective effort.”