Paes confirms his participation for London Olympics

Leander Paes has finally confirmed his availability of the coming London Olympics, saying his job was to play sports and not politics.

Earlier, Paes had threatened to withdraw from the London Olympics after being paired with with the young Vishnu Pardhan by the All Indian Tennis Association (AITA) after Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna?s due refused to play with Paes.

Paes on Thursday said he was ready to ignore "petty politics" in the sport to represent India at July 27-August 12 event to be held at London.

"I am here to play sport and not politics," Paes said Thursday following his men's doubles first round win at the Wimbledon with Czech partner Radek Stepanek.

"Unfortunately, I see the games being played within games. Though it is very disheartening, I am looking forward to my sixth Olympics as I have played for 22 years for the people and the flag."

Moreover, the bronze medallist said heis ready to accept the decision of AITA and can pair with anyone selected.
"I don't even know if he has a grass-court shoe. So it is a bit of a tough one. But he is a really good kid", said Peas about Vardhan on being asked.

"Whatever the obstacles are, which I see are going to be many -- he has never been to Wimbledon before -- whatever I can do as an experienced professional athlete to help my partners out, I would do," he said.

-With reports from IANS