Three-man committee will be ‘biased’: Bhupathi

Mahesh Bhupathi, who led a revolt of 11 players against the AITA slammed the AITA for the way it formed a three-member panel to look into the issues raised by the rebels, alleging that the panel would be ‘biased’ and serve no purpose. The AITA on Sunday formed a three-member committee, which includes Justice Deepak Verma and former Davis Cupper Naresh Kumar, to resolve the issues with the rebel players, but Bhupathi said the panel was formed to divert attention from the ‘real issues’. ‘I am very sceptical about the formation of the committee because the committee has been given a mandate to submit a report in four months while India’s next tie will be held in a few weeks’ time. This was a ploy by the AITA to divert attention from the real issues. I don’t see any urgency on the part of the AITA,’ Bhupathi said. ‘It is very disturbing and frustrating for us. We were hoping that somebody from the management would take charge and try to sort out the issues. It seems that the AITA does not want to engage with us,’ he said. Bhupathi also said that he had reservations about the composition.

‘Two of the members have no tennis background and by putting Naresh Kumar in the committee, there is no chance of the committee being unbiased.’