Leander plays the ball

Leander Paes was at the Mohun Bagan ground on Tuesday to share his childhood passion with the Bhaichung Bhutias and the Jose Ramirez Barretos. The tennis star spent close to two hours under the guidance of coach Karim Bencharifa.

“I called Bhaichung last evening and wanted to do some fitness training with them. He invited me over after getting the clearance from Karim.

“It was like getting back to my roots as I used to come to this ground with my dad when he played (hockey) for Mohun Bagan… Cross-sport training is good for any sportsperson,” said Paes.

“It was generous of Karim to let me join their training session a few days ahead of a big tournament… He’s a good professional coach.”

Talk inevitably turned to tennis and Paes felt Roger Federer is still not past his prime.

“Roger has had a great year, just lost two major finals and people are making so much of it. Roger’s set such a high standard for himself… I’m sure he has at least a couple more Grand Slams left in him. Maybe he’ll surpass (Pete) Sampras’ record in 2009 itself.”

Federer needs one more Grand Slam title to equal Sampras’ tally of 14.

Paes is pinning high hopes on Somdev Dev Varman. “Somdev is the hardest worker among Indian players. He has a good chance of breaking into the top 100 next year.”

Paes also said that the terror strikes in Mumbai had left him devastated. “The Mumbai strikes were such a terrible act, but it has reunited the country and brought the people together.”

On his own plans, Paes said: “The past season hasn’t been good for me since I changed partners too often. I plan to play with Cara Black in mixed doubles and Lukas Dlouhy in doubles this season.”

Football: I-League: Bhaichung Calls For Better Coverage

Bhaichung, alongwith Steven Dias, inaugurated the second edition of Tata Tea Jaago Re Soccer Stars ’09 where in the final stage, 16 Indian youngsters would get a chance to participate in the Arsenal International Soccer Festival.

“For the Indian players to be followed, we need a much better coverage of the games. When we play, those matches must be shown,” said the veteran Indian skipper.

Incidentally, football fans in the country could only see the first half of the I-League match between Mohun Bagan and Mahindra United and were bereft of the winner scored by Bhaichung. Mohun Bagan had a disastrous start to their I-League campaign and Bhaichung acknowledged it stating, “It was the worst start by Mohun Bagan in their entire NFL (National Football League or the now I-League) history. But credit to the players, coaches and the management for the great recovery.”

The Sikkimese Sniper went on to speak on life after football and spoke of his desire to have a world-class Academy in India.

“It’s my dream project. I want to have an Academy of the highest quality but for that the minimum is 40 acres of land.”