New Delhi: Indian tennis stars Leander Paes, Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna will skip the Asian Games being held in the South Korean city of Incheon from September 19 to October 4 to focus on the professional circuit.

The participation of these players had remained a big question mark after top singles player Somdev Devvarman decided to miss the continental Games to focus on getting back into the top-100 in the world.

All India Tennis Association (AITA) president Anil Khanna on Wednesday said in a statement that Paes, Mirza and Bopanna’s request to give the Asian Games a miss has been granted.

They are now free to play ATP and WTA events, which will help them in improving their rankings with the aim of qualfying to take part in the year-ending tour finals.

“In respect of the Asian Games, special circumstances have developed where it is necessary for the players to participate in ATP and WTA events to protect their rankings and to give the additional push to qualify for the year-end World Masters,” Khanna said.

“Considering the important requirement of players, the AITA has decided to respect their requests and allow them to play the ATP/WTA tournaments so that they can have a respectable opportunity to represent the nation in the World Championships to be held at the end of the year.”

The AITA statement also explained the reasons for the players missing out on the Asiad.

“Leander has always been a top-10 player. But his ranking has substantially dropped from sixth to 36th as he could not protect the points won in the 2013 US Open, where he was the winner. He is required to participate in the remaining three Asian tournaments, which coincide with the Asian Games, to protect his rankings,” Khanna said.

“Sania is currently No. 7 and she, along with her partner Cara Black, is in the race for the 2014 Championship at Singapore. In case she qualifies it will be a great achievement for an Indian woman sportsperson. Sania wishes to take part in two WTA events in Asia, which are coinciding with the Asian Games, as she also has to protect 1,900 points that she won in 2013.

“Rohan is in a similar situation as two ATP events in which he is to participate are coinciding with the Asian Games. He is also defending points from Tokyo tournament that he had won in 2013.”