India, Oct. 25 -- Indian tennis greats Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza have filed nominations for the AITA SOM elections, seeking representation in the General Body (GB) and Executive Committee (EC), while the country's most successful player, Leander Paes, surprisingly did not file his nomination for the November 7 polls. The absence of Paes, the only player featuring in Tier I in the 40-player roster, from the nominations list means that now he can't run for AITA Presidency.

Headed by Paes himself, the Bengal Tennis Association (BTA) had publically backed his candidature for the post of AITA President. However, Paes needed to win the Sports Person of Outstanding Merit (SOM) election to stand as presidential candidate because he is stil...