‘Total bull****, false information’: Sasikumar Mukund rubbishes AITA reports on two-tie suspension

New Delhi: Indian tennis player Sasikumar Mukund has hit back at the All India Tennis Association (AITA) over reports about his suspension for not participating in the Davis Cup tie against Pakistan earlier this year. On Friday, the Indian team was announced with Sumit Nagal returning to the ie squad for the tie against Sweden in September after missing the away tie in Islamabad in Pakistan citing unsuitable conditions with the grass courts.

Mukund, who also missed the Pakistan tie along with Nagal in February this year due to personal reasons, wasn’t considered for selection. The AITA in its statement said that the 27-year-old player from Chennai is currently serving a two-tie suspension for his refusal to play against Pakistan.

“Mukund was handed a two-tie suspension by the Executive Committee for his consistent refusal to play for the national team. He did it three times in a row, so he was not to be considered for two ties. This is the first tie and he will not be considered in the next one too,” an AITA source was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Sasikumar Mukund, who is currently ranked as the third-highest Indian tennis player in men’s singles at 476, dismissed the suspension reports from the federation. He said the captain (Rohit Rajpal) and coach (Ashutosh Singh) asked him to play against Sweden on September 14 and 15 in Stockholm but the player opted out citing ‘bad management.’

“Completely false information (on suspension) and total bull****. I was asked to play by captain and coach and I chose not to play because one I don’t have a visa and two I just didn’t wanted to be there due to bad management [sic],” Mukund wrote in a post shared on his Instagram story on Friday night.

“And I think the second reason hurt somebody ego and they came up with a ban which nobody knew about including me. If I had a ban why was I asked? I had requested to keep my name out of this in the press and the same thing happens. [sic]”

“Secondly missing a tie I have never heard a player getting banned for it. I could have been injured or anything… Code of Conduct or Discipline can be a reason. If I have to be banned for missing a tie then a lot of officials have to be banned for life fort the amount of players money they spend on single malt whiskeys for every tie and steal players prize money for that. [sic],” he added.

Sasikumar Mukund explains how athletes loses interest for national treatment

In November 2023, AITA secretary general Anil Dhupar called out Mukund for consistently remaining absent from national duty after the latter made himself unavailable for the Pakistan tie in Islamabad in February. Dhupar noted that Mukund has done this twice before that.

The AITA later refused to hand a wildcard entry to Sumit Nagal for the main draw of the Australian Open in January but the player managed to win three qualification rounds to make the cut before upstaging an upset against then World No.27 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan.

Mukund said that bad treatment by the federation is one of the hindrance for players to miss out on national duty.

“Bad treatment is the biggest reason why an athlete loses interest for national duty despite that being the biggest honour and cowardly acts like this only builds it further. Hightime players are not part of a drama for every tie whether or not they are in it and we focus on playing tennis which we are not so good at [sic],” the 27-year-old mentioned.