Leander Paes: Loss in Barcelona made me win Olympic medal in Atlanta

The legendary tennis player spoke about his journey from missing out on a medal in 1992 to winning it four years later.

Eighteen-time Grand Slam champion Leander Paes made history in 1996 when he became the first Indian tennis player to win an Olympic medal in Atlanta. The legend spoke about why he specifically practised for the singles competition after the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, in the fifth episode of “The Finish Line”, hosted by Asian Games Gold medallist squash player Saurav Ghoshal.

The show, which was launched on 28 August 2020 with India's only individual Olympic Gold medallist Abhinav Bindra as its first guest, is conceptualized and produced by India’s leading sports marketing firm, Baseline Ventures. "The Finish Line" is being presented by Induslnd Bank and is powered by Muse Wearables.

The fifth episode of “The Finish Line” will be aired on Baseline Ventures' YouTube, Facebook and Instagram pages at 6 pm on Friday, 25 September 2020.

During the fifth episode, Paes delved into his preparation plan for the 1996 Olympics in detail. One of the greatest doubles players in the sport went on to win a Bronze in the singles competition after defeating Brazil's Fernando Meligeni in Atlanta.

"When Ramesh Krishnan and I lost a chance to win an Olympic medal in 1992 after losing in the quarter-finals of the doubles competition, I realized that Ramesh was retiring and he was not going to be around for the 1996 Olympics. I also realized that there were no youngsters who were going to be prepared enough to win a medal in Atlanta. In 1992, I was only looking to get to the Olympics. And then when I came so close to winning a medal, I sat on the bench after we lost the quarter-finals for around 2 hours and 45 minutes. I reinvented my train of thought and decided to transform my physical strength and mental aptitude for singles competitions between 1992 and 1996," said Leander Paes.

The first season of The Finish Line will consist of eight parts wherein a sporting legend will be invited to recreate a defining moment in Indian sports in each of the episodes. The eight legends who have been confirmed are Abhinav Bindra, Viswanathan Anand, Dinesh Karthik, Pankaj Advani, Smriti Mandhana, Leander Paes, Parul Parmar and Varun Singh Bhati.

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