London Olympics: Paes-Vardhan play their hearts out but lose to second seeds Llodra-Tsonga in second round

Leander Paes and his partner Vishnu Vardhan fought their hearts out before losing to second seeds Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfred Tsonga of France in a gruelling men’s doubles second round match, in London on Wednesday, says a report in The Hindu, adding that Paes and Vardhan gave a torrid time to the formidable French combination before losing 6-7 (3) 6-4 3-6 in two hours and seven minutes.
With their defeat Indian challenge ended in the men’s doubles but Paes and Vardhan can hold their heads high as they made their rivals work very hard to earn points. The other Indian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna had lost in straight sets yesterday.

Indian challenge is still alive in the discipline as Paes and Sania Mirza are set to open their campaign in the mixed doubles tomorrow. Their mixed doubles match was scheduled for today but had to be postponed till tomorrow because of the back log owing to inclement weather in the past few days.

Meanwhile The Times Of India writes that Paes was only paired with Vardhan by All India Tennis Association (AITA) chiefs after Mahesh Bhupathi refused to play with the doubles ace following the breakdown of their successful partnership.

“The controversy turned ugly when Bhupathi accused Paes of lying to him on several occasions and changing his partner during a tournament in November 2011 without informing him. After several weeks of tension, Bhupathi, who wrote to the AITA to protest against their decision, finally got his wish to play with Rohan Bopanna at the Games, while Paes was told to play with Vardhan,” says the report, adding that the new pairing had beaten Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands in the first round, but they were unable to shock the French duo on Wimbledon's Court 18.

To their credit, Paes and Vardhan pushed Tsonga and Llodra all the way, but their defeat ends India's hopes of a medal in the men's doubles.