Thaindian News

Kolkata, July 12 (IANS) Asserting that Indian tennis stars Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi should have sorted out their disagreements much before the London Olympics instead of bringing up the issues in public, world champion Viswanathan Anand Thursday termed it an “unpleasant” happening.

“The two of them had disagreements and that’s normal in sports. But they should have sorted out the issues much ahead and quietly in time. It was unpleasant,” Anand said.

“Leander and Mahesh should have made some efforts to sort out the issues much earlier and not bring it up when there’s a deadline to submit,” he told media persons here.

Anand urged the London-bound athletes to be focused.

“Hope they are not sitting and listening to messages, but practicing seriously,’ Anand said when asked whether he would wish the Indian participants.

The five-time world chess champion said he hoped to win the world title again.

“After me, what can I say. I am not trying to think of who will be next. I hope it’s me,” he said.

The Indian Grand Master said he withdrew from the national squad for the chess Olympiad in Turkey as he wanted to concentrate on the tournaments like the Bilbao Chess Masters Final in Spain.

“Several times I have done this (withdrawn from the chess Olympiad). And this time I did this to concentrate on some other tournaments like Bilbao. Earlier I had issues with the Olympiad format,” he added.