New Delhi: Rising Indian tennis star Karan Rastogi had lauded the role played by the All India Tennis Association and Maharashtra's tennis association for his rise, which has evoked scathing comments from top Indian tennis official Bharat Oza regarding Sania Mirza's earlier criticism.
"I'm surprised and pleased that Karan and his father have praised the help provided by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association and the All India Tennis Association at a time when we get only brickbats," Oza, who is the Joint Secretary of the AITA and President of MSLTA, said in Mumbai.
Oza noticed that Rastogi's gesture, though generous, are in stark contrast to Sania's repeated criticism about the national and state tennis governing bodies.
"Sania, I remember, had said once, when asked who was her coach, that it was her father. That was the height of evasiveness and ungratefulness. However, here we have Rastogi and his father acknowledging the role played by the MSLTA and AITA," Oza said. He was present at a ceremony organised by the tennis player.
"The family plays a big role in the career of a tennis player and the association can do only so much but cannot take the entire responsibility of bringing up the player. We have other priorities too and within that limit we try and help the players' in their careers."
Oza heaped praises on Rastogi's rise in Indian tennis (the Indian recently climbed 109 places in the men's world rankings following his performance at the Chennai Open) and lauded his efforts in the test series against Pakistan.
He also hopes Rastogi steadies his gallop in the men's circuit and steps into the standards set by India's top men's players Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, and breaks into the top-100 soon.
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