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After both the Sports Ministry and the All India Tennis Association (AITA) promised that the Indian tennis players' grievances regarding payment of their dues will be resolved by Monday, latest updates from the Ministry reveal that it might not be before another fortnight that the payment be released.
Though the Indian men's team for the Commonwealth Games Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Somdev Devvarman, Rohan Bopanna have committed to play both in Davis Cup and in the October Games after the Sports Ministry assured them, more delay is expected before any resolution can be reached.
The bone of contention continues to be about the certificate of assurance that the Ministry is asking AITA to issue regarding the five players. According to the Ministry, the authorisation letter from the association should state not only the expenses but also the fact that the tournaments played were actually funded by the players.
"They have given us the details about the number of tournaments participated by the players in the last two years but we need a certificate which says that their air-fare and hotel stay was not on sponsorship money or from organisers fund," Rahul Bhatnagar, joint secretary of the international sports division said.
On Monday, AITA secretary general Anil Khanna and chairman of the CWG preparations program Jaideep Mukherjea along with other officials met Rahul Bhatnagar to discuss the issue and submit the documentation that they had prepared regarding each player.
Bhatnagar said AITA has provided some data but they need more details about the expenses of all the five players (including Sania Mirza). "At least we had something to start with today. We have got some details but we need more details from AITA which they say they will give by this evening or tomorrow morning," Bhatnagar said.
Meanwhile, AITA's problem continues to be that it has not received all the bills from the players. "It is AITA's prerogative to satisfy themselves with the bills, we have no direct dealing with the players, they just have to provide us the certification that the requested money was indeed spent by the players," Bhatnagar told The Indian Express.
But, a statement issued by Mukherjea earlier had claimed that the issue is resolved which does not seem to be the case now.
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