Chinese Tennis Association Criticised by Li Na

Li Na has criticised the Chinese Tennis Association after it entered her into the Olympic doubles tournament at the London Games.

Li’s team said earlier this month she hoped to focus only on the singles given her injuries.

“So far I have not heard from anyone asking me to play doubles. I hope they could respect athletes more … the way they handled this makes me uncomfortable,” she said.

“I am 30 now and all these issues could have been put on the table. If both [parties] are okay, we do it, otherwise we do not.”

After a dispute with the Chinese Tennis Association about pay and training routines, Li and several others were leave from the country’s Soviet-style sports regime in 2009 to organise their schedules and retain most of their prize-money.

Defying officials over the Olympics would be unpopular in China and Li said she would “obey” the decision. {jcomments on}