Leander Paes’ acrid remarks on India’s combinations for the last two Olympics after the Davis Cup tie against Spain in New Delhi received bitter responses from both Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna, who took to Twitter to express their anger.

Sania took an apparent dig at Paes without actually naming him, by writing: “The ONLY way to win with a toxic person, is not to play!!! #karmaiswatching #zenmode.”

After Mirza’s harsh comments slamming Paes for his statement, Bopanna opted to retweet Mirza’s tweet and add his own thoughts to the matter.

He wrote, “At it again!! …the usual ploy to stay in the news by slanging fellow players in media. #Patriotism.”

The bitterness of not getting a shot at the Olympics mixed doubles event continues to rankle Leander Paes. During his interaction with the media after partnering Saketh Myneni in a hard-fought men’s doubles loss to Olympic champions Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez in the ongoing Davis Cup, he again reiterated that the country had not sent its best team to the Olympics.

“I can very clearly say that in this Olympics and last Olympics we didn’t put the best team forward. This Olympics the mixed doubles was a great opportunity. What more does a man need to do than win four Grand Slams in 14 months. There was no more tournaments to win, I could not create anymore tournaments. Sad. Long story short, let’s nurture these kids,” Paes said referring to his fantastic mixed double run leading up to the Games.