Punjab Post Daily Online Newspaper & Print Media
Special Report by Harjap Singh Aujla
Since March of 2014, the Consulate General of India located at 3 East 64th Street near 5th Avenue of New York City has undertaken a monthly initiative of holding lectures on the subjects concerning Indo-US relations. The guest key-note speaker on August 22, 2014 was legendry tennis player Leander Paes, who delivered a lively lecture on the subject “My Tennis and India – US Relations”. A number of non-Indians, including some Americans were also in attendance.
His Excellency Mr. Dnyaneshwar Mulay, the Consul General of India presided and gave a brief description as to how Leander Paes had recently lost his Indian Passport while travelling in the USA and suddenly barged into the Consulate General of India office and the consulate issued him a new passport within minutes. The Consul General Ambassador Mulay jokingly remarked to the amused gathering that he told Paes that the passport will be issued on the stipulation that the star sportsman will have to deliver the August 2014 lecture on the subject of Indo–US relations, to which the great sportsman readily agreed and that is how he was on the podium delivering the key-note speech. The ambassador told a brief history of his office building as to how a day after 26th of January in 1950 the first Republic Day of, this magnificent building was purchased. He told that in a year’s duration a hundred and seventy thousand consular services, including OCI cards, PIO cards passports and visa, are delivered by his busy office alone.
Another young Indian origin international tennis player Ms. Neha Oberoi, previously based in New Jersey, gave a brief introduction of the achievements of Leander Paes, this included her interaction with the legend on his frequent tennis related tours of the USA.
Leander Paes started his introduction by mentioning his birth on June 17th 1973 in Calcutta. His father Vece Paes was a Goan, who played as a hockey centre-half for India and won in an Olympic bronze medal for India in 1972. His mother Jennifer, a pitite standing just five foot tall was also the captain of the Indian basketball team in 1980. Leander Paes admitted that his fast speed on the tennis court has come from his mother. Leander Paes being only 5 feet and 10 inches tall, had the handicap of being much shorter compared to his European and American counterparts. But his sheer grit and determination helped him tremendously to surmount his lifelong handicap. In 1985, at the age of twelve, he got enrolled in the Brittania Amritraj Tennis Academy in Madras, under Coach Dave O’ Meara. This was the only tennis academy in India during those days. In 1990, he entered the prestigious Wimbledon Tournament and won the junior level championship. Thus he became a household name in England. The following year he surprisingly turned pro. Initially he underwent extreme financial hardships. At times, he could not afford a hotel room and had to sleep in make shift accommodations. His foremost achievement was his winning an Olympic bronze medal for India on the soil of the United States in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996 Olympiad. This news was flashed all over the USA. Leander Paes won two of the most prestigious mixed doubles grand slam titles in the Australian Open and Wimbledon by pairing with Martina Navratilova of USA. This made him a household name in the United States. The Government of India honored Leander Paes by giving him “Rajiv Gandhi Khel Rattan Award, Arjuna Award for excellence in sports, Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awards in different years.
By sheer grit, thus far Leander Paes has represented India in six consecutive Olympics. Starting from Barcelona (Spain) 1992, Atlanta (USA) 1996 (where he won a bronze medal in men’s singles for India), Sydney (Australia) 2000 (where he carried India’s national flag in the grand opening ceremony), Athens (Greece) 2004 (where in partnership with Mahesh Bhupathy, he lost a fiercely contested semifinal match), Beijing (China) 2008 (where he paired with Mahesh Bhupathi and lost in the quarter-finals) and London (the United Kingdom) in 2012.
Representing India in six consecutive Olympic Games is also a world record, especially for an Indian sportsman. He said that he is now gearing up for the Rio De Geneiro Olympics in 2016. He may compete in men’s and mixed doubles events. In mixed doubles he told me that he is pairing with Sania Mirza. He was in New York for the US Open tournament. This year at age forty one, he is the oldest player playing competitive international tennis. With fourteen grand slam titles under his belt, he is indeed a celebrated sportsman and an inspiring role model for the youth in India as well as the youth of the Indian diaspora.
Leander Paes lives as much in the United States as in his native India. He along with the other tennis players is an ambassador of goodwill for India in America. Leander Paes trains in Florida and competes in most US tournaments. At one time he was picked up as a junior sportsman by Spain, but his love and patriotism for India did not let him accept the lucrative Spanish offer. The biggest ever victory of Leander Paes was his win against Rod Laver of Australia.
Towards the end of the program, there was a brief question and answer session too. On a question from this reporter, Leander Paes said that Punjab, which has been doing great in hockey and other sports, is not doing too badly in tennis either. There is a young boy from a modest background Sunil Kumar Sipahiya from Kapurthala, who was picked up by the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association (CLTA) and is now being intensively coached to represent India in international tournaments. Sunil Kumar’s father used to be a by-cycle mechanic. Recently he performed very well in Davis Cup matches. In answer to a question on India’s poor showing in the Olympics and other world-wide sports competitions, Leander Paes frankly said that there is a big difference in diet served to the Indian sportsmen and those to the European and North American sportsmen. Food habits of the Indians are a lot to blame for India’s poor showing in strength and stamina based sports. Leander told that he spends eighty percent of his time in gymnasiums and running tracks and only twenty percent time he spends on the tennis courts. Physical fitness is a major contributor to competitive continuance in any sport. In reply to another of my questions, Leander said that in order to develop great well rounded players, India should build all kinds of tennis courts like grassy, clay courts and hard synthetic courts. In America of course most important tournaments are played on hard synthetic courts.
A lot of Americans see a glimpse of India, when they see Leander Paes on the court in different cities of America. In doubles, among others he has paired successfully with a United States icon Ms. Martina Navratilova. Their victories have given a positive exposure to India as a country.
