Leander, Sania happy to team up again

NEW DELHI - Leander Paes and Sania Mirza are happy to team up after four years. The two were welcomed by nearly two thousand screaming fans at the R.K. Khanna Tennis Complex Monday and the cheering only grew louder after the pair breezed into the mixed doubles quarterfinals at the Commonwealth Games.

The two smiled and waved to the crowd and brought it to their feet by whacking balls into the stands. Such was the craze that the volunteers and the police had a tough time controlling the crowd. A few still managed to break the cordon and others made their presence felt by yelling from the stands.

Sania and Leander, enjoyed every bit of the attention, and were on a song as they wrapped up the proceedings with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Saint Lucia’s Stacey Nykita Roheman and Alberton Richelieu to enter the last eight.

It was a good warm-up. The Commonwealth Games are taking place at home, so the crowd will always be excited. Today we got an easy match but the road is going to be tough ahead. Hope we are able to build up on today’s win, said Sania, playing her first match at home after her marriage to former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik.

Leander, who flew here Sunday morning, said it was nice to play with Sania again afer four years. The two won the gold in the 2006 Doha Asian Games.

It is nice to be playing with Sania again after four years. She is always looking to create chances. It is going to be a team effort.

“Sania is playing in three events and I know there will be days where I will have to step up and then there will be days where I am not playing that well and she will have to do the same. The important thing is communication and we are able to do that easily, he said.

The pressure is always there. You either deal with it or you don’t. At this age I have played plenty of games to deal with it. The important thing is we enjoy ourselves and we were having fun out there today. We would hope for a gold though there is still some time for it.” said Leander.

At 36, age is not a barrier for Leander and he is far from hanging his boots.

Age is not an issue. I have been lucky to play with a lot of good partners. From Martina Navratilova I learnt how to dead with the age factor, I have great coaches and fitness coaches advising me on what to eat and how to stay fit. Speed is my forte and I rely on it since I am not a six feet guy popping aces.