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New Delhi: Stung by the boycott of top players for the Davis Cup tie, a beleaguered AITA today decided to appoint a special committee to look into the grievances of the rebels even as the standoff showed no signs of ending with the tennis body and the players engaging in a fresh blame game.
A day after announcing a highly depleted side to take on South Korea, AITA proposed to form a committee which will go into the matters relating to Davis Cup and arrive at a suitable agreement with the revolting players.
The proposal to appoint the committee was made by AITA President Anil Khanna. It will be formed on February 3 when the national federation proposes to have its next Executive Committee meeting.
The committee will be headed either by a retired judge or a senior retired government officer of equal status and an eminent tennis player.
Before AITA swung into action, Somdev Devvarman, who is leading the revolt, lambasted the body and called it "unprofessional" and "unethical" for snubbing the rebel group.
The AITA yesterday ignored the eight revolting players, including veteran Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna, and named a second-string Davis Cup squad that will play the Asia/Oceania Group I tie from February 1 to 3.
The move came after the revolting players failed to make themselves available within a set deadline.
"The things that AITA have done last week have been unprofessional and unethical. Players are disappointed," Somdev said from Melbourne.
"I think AITA have made a lot of claims and everything but the truth is we haven't got anything in writing. That is the thing players have asked for, we want that in writing because it would be foolish, given the history of AITA, to go into an agreement based on faith.
"Nothing came in writing, I can guarantee you that. The last e-mail that we received was on January 6 and that had nothing of the things that they said in the press release yesterday. It just goes to show what sort of federation they are," he added.
