Having lost the second round match of the men’s doubles event at the London Games, Mahesh Bhupathi’s long-cherished dream of winning an Olympic medal will remain unfulfilled as he would not be a part of the next edition in Rio de Janeiro.
“I’ll be supporting Rohan from the stands. I will definitely not be playing in Rio,” said Bhupathi after he along with his partner Rohan Bopanna lost their match last night.
Bhupathi said that failing to win an Olympic medal will be one of his biggest regrets and he will have to come to terms with the fact.
“I guess I’ll have to die without an Olympic medal. It’s definitely not something that’s going to be in the cupboard but we gave it a good shot, and the last four times as well (at previous Games).
“We came close before and came with ideal preparation. The mind wanted it, the heart wanted it, but the limbs stopped, so unfortunately we came out on the bad end of the stick,” he said.
Bhupathi and Bopanna, whose insistence to play together sparked off a selection row ahead of the London Olympics, lost against wild card entrants Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet of France, and Bhupathi took the blame for the debacle, saying he let the team down with a below par performance in the match.
“Losing this match is a tough pill to swallow, as we thought we had a legitimate chance. We’re not to play and have fun. I’m personally very disappointed with how I played today.
“Under pressure I have been able to deliver and this time I wasn’t. All credit to Rohan. The last two matches he played were the best two matches of the year so far. I feel I have let the team down,” he added.
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